


Take My Hand

by starstruckroman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, Self-Insert, Trans Male Character, Trans Peter Parker, more tags to be added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-06-25 18:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19751122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starstruckroman/pseuds/starstruckroman
Summary: (Self-insert fanfic, I got permission from tumblr user @sugarglider9603 to use the Sanders Sides spiderverse au for this because come on, insert-me needs more friends)Being a super hero can be pretty gay. And quite stressful. When Roman wakes up one day and accidentally breaks his door, he goes to his newfound friends for help, and discovers a lot more than he should.





	1. Chapter 1

A small figure darted along a busy street, slipping through the crowd and standing staring, horror pounding through his being at the incessant beating of his heart. He sank to his knees, reaching out trembling hands toward his mother.

"M-mum?" He choked out softly.

There was no response. The figure ducked his head, shoulders trembling with violent sobs. Gentle hands grabbed at his shoulders, trying to pull him away. He struggled for all of five seconds before giving up the fight, standing tiredly and staring at his mother. His face was blank, the only betrayal of his emotions were his red-rimmed eyes and the tears slowly making their way down his face.

The figure turned and pushed his way through the crowd, trying to get away. He couldn't be there. He broke into a flat-out sprint, needing to leave, find a way out, _get away-_

He bumped into someone and was sent sprawling to the ground.

"Shit! Are you alright?"

He grunted, shifting into a seated position and rubbing his head. He nodded, not quite trusting his voice, and looked up to the source of the voice.

It was another guy, probably around his age if he were to guess. He had curly brown hair and brown eyes. He was tall and lanky, but the smaller boy's trained eyes detected more muscle than average on his arms.

"I'm Peter, what's your name?"

The smaller teen huffed. He stood, brushing dirt off his pants, and levelled a Look at Peter.

"Oh! Sorry! Can you talk?"

The boy hesitated for a few moments before nodding slowly. He whipped out his phone and typed something quickly. 'I can, just not right now.'

"Why not?" Peter asked softly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to! I understand I'm a stranger. Sorry."

The boy shook his head frantically. 'Don’t want to think about it. Sorry.'

"Don't worry about it," Peter responded sheepishly. "So uh. What's your name?"

'Roman.'

"That's a nice name!"

'Thanks, I chose it myself.'

Peter laughed. Roman smirked up at him, before the amused look died and he looked away again. 'I should probably get home,' he typed out. 'It was nice talking to you.'

"Hey, do you want my phone number?" Peter asked. "If you wanna talk more."

Roman shrugged. 'Why not?' He handed his phone over to Peter, who added a new contact under 'peter parkour'. When Roman raised an amused eyebrow, Peter's face flushed red and he stammered a small, "sorry, it's habit."

Roman was violently reminded of his siblings and his face fell, but he couldn't look away fast enough. Peter noticed and tilted his head, but - thankfully - didn't mention it. "Well, I'll text you later! I gotta get back home, my- uh, my guardians will be looking for me."

"Okay," Roman whispered, surprising himself. He smiled up at Peter through his hair. Peter grinned back before he turned and jogged off.

Now that Roman was alone, he continued on his way, darting through streets and toward his home. He got inside and shut the door, sinking down against it as a sob built its way up his throat. He choked out a soft cry, hauling himself to his feet and toward his room. He dropped his small, dirty bag and collapsed on his bed, curling in on himself and shivering. The air had gotten cooler. Winter was approaching, and Roman didn't know how he was going to last through it. He hadn't been alone before, it had just been him and his mum, but now she was dead and he didn't know what to do.

Wiping at his eyes fervently, Roman looked at his phone. It had 10%, but Roman didn't want to use much power. He had barely landed a job, and it barely paid. He then decided that power would only be used in emergencies. Remembering the portable charger under his bed, Roman grabbed it and checked the power. Thank fuck, it was full. He fished out his charging cord and plugged his phone in, before sinking back down on his bed.

When he blinked his eyes open again, the sun had gone down and he was very cold. He got up slowly, ignoring the way his stomach rumbled. He searched his room for another jumper, and made a small satisfactory noise upon finding it. He wiggled into it and glanced at his binder on the floor.

_I don't need it with the three layers of jumpers_ , he decided, leaving his room.

Roman headed into the kitchen, glancing at the clock on the microwave. It glowed softly, revealing that it was 10:13 at night. He frowned then turned to the pantry, opening it and scanning. He hissed at the complete lack of good food, then stood on tip-toes and reached up to the top. He grabbed something - small chocolate pudding cups, at a glance - and shut the pantry. Roman then set it on the bench and ripped the foil lid off, then placed it into the microwave - food counts as an emergency, right? - and set it for thirty seconds. He leaned against the counter and waited, rubbing at his face exhaustedly.

The microwave beeped and Roman stepped forward, removing the plastic cup and setting it aside. He grabbed a bowl and gave it a quick once-over to determine if it was clean before shaking the cup over the bowl and dropping the pudding thing into it. He sidled over to the bench and fished a spoon out of the drawer, then took the bowl back to his room.

He sat and picked up his phone, checking the time again. It was now 10:16. He scowled and ate the pudding. Once he was done, he stood and put the bowl on his desk before falling onto the bed. Roman pulled his soft blanket up over himself and relaxed, hugging himself and slipping into sleep.

The next day, Roman dressed himself and got ready for work. He looked at his desk, pointedly ignoring the dirty bowl, and looked at his schoolwork. Being homeschooled came with its benefits, like doing your work whenever. He scowled at the work and turned, leaving the room and then the house. He again ignored his rumbling stomach; he'd brought money, he could get something on the way in to work. He plugged his headphones into his phone and pressed play on his playlist, relaxing as the sound of Imagine Dragons filled his ears. _Great song to start the day_ , he thought drily.

Of course, even though his mother had died yesterday, he didn't get any breaks.

Roman barely made it to the bus on time, falling into his self-assigned seat with a huff. He skipped the next song, pushing back a memory of singing it with his family, and shut his eyes and tipped his head back to the pulsing sound of Teenagers.

The bus jolted and Roman snapped his eyes open, fast enough to watch with horror as a car rammed into the side. Roman's hands shot up and he held on for dear life as the bus spun off the road. He was flung across the bus and he slammed into someone, falling to the ground. He cried out in pain, spitting out an apology as he slid to the ground. The bus crashed into something and for a horrifying moment, it was suspended in midair. Roman and many other people on the bus let out screams.

_Please don't let me die_ , Roman begged quietly while his heart hammered out through his throat, momentarily halting his breathing. He swallowed and let out a pained hiss as the bus slammed to the ground. His ears started ringing loudly and everything faded out, vision going blank.

He could hear a faint voice, calling for everyone to get out of the bus. It sounded familiar, but Roman couldn't place a name to it. He hauled himself to his feet, but his head throbbed violently and he stumbled again. He fell against someone who caught him. "Shit! Uh- don't worry, sir, the ambulance is on their way."

_Is that… Peter?_ Roman blinked wearily up at the person, eyes widening when he saw Spider-Man's suit. "Sp-Spider-Man?" He rasped.

"Uhhh yeah, surprise!" Spider-Man laughed nervously. "Visiting Australia. Don't know why. Mr. Stark wanted me here for some reason or another. ANYWAY. Let's get you off the bus, okay?"

That was definitely Peter. Roman didn't say anything, only responding with a tired nod as Peter helped him off the bus. Roman turned around, ready to thank him, but Peter's eyes went ridiculously large.

" _Everyone get away from the bus it's going to expLODE-_ "

It did.

Roman was thrown back and he hit his head on something hard. He gasped, eyes welling up with tears as the bus burst into flames. Fuck, it hurt. A lot. He clutched at his head and rocked slightly, trying to quell the rising nausea. He looked up, searching frantically for Peter, and spotted him a bit further away with two little children. He was trying to soothe them. Roman groaned and Peter twisted, eyes going wide. He said something to the children and darted over to Roman.

"Are you okay?? Karen, vitals."

Roman squinted blearily - _who's Karen? Where's Karen?_ \- but didn't say anything. His tongue felt thick and wrong in his mouth, and he swallowed. Then choked on his spit.

"Ah, shit Ro-" Peter cut himself off and blinked before crouching down beside him.

"H-hey Peter," Roman whispered quietly.

Peter's eyes went wide again. "How do you know?" He asked.

"Your voice," Roman responded, voice slurred slightly. "'M sore."

"Hey hey hey, Ro, can I call you Ro? You gotta stay awake, please."

Roman nodded slightly. "Y'can call me Ro."

"Okay okay. Ro, the ambulance is on their way, Karen, how far out?" There was a pause. "Two minutes out??? Okay Ro, you gotta stay awake for two more minutes, okay?"

"Two minutes?" Roman mumbled. "Don't wan' stay 'wake."

Peter's voice came fast and panicked. "Sorry, Roman, but you have to stay awake. Karen, how do I get someone to stay awake- tell stories? Okay, okay I can do that. Um! One time I was fighting some guy who called himself the Vulture, right?"

But his voice faded away. Try as Roman might to pay attention to it, he found himself slipping into unconsciousness.

When Roman woke again, he was immediately blinded. He hissed and shut his eyes tight again, covering his face with an arm to block out more light.

"You're awake! Oh thank god."

Roman squinted around the room, tensing as his gaze landed on an unfamiliar form. He blinked and then recognised it; Peter. Spider-Man.

"H-hey," Roman croaked. "Killer headache."

Peter laughed softly. "Yeah, the lights in these places will do that to ya. And. Well. Getting a head hit that hard. You're lucky you seem to have a skull made of rock."

Roman chuckled.

"Anyway, we tried to call your emergency contact - your mum, right? - but she didn't pick up." Peter frowned at Roman.

"She's dead," Roman deadpanned.

Peter blanched. "Oh." He shifted awkwardly. "Well. I called Mr. Stark and I must have sounded considerably panicked, because he came right away."

"T-Tony Stark?" Roman whispered. "Is he here-?"

"Yeah," Peter grinned sheepishly. "Hope you don't mind."

Roman's eyes were wide. "'Don't mind'? Of course I don't mind! This is, really cool- I mean, apart from the whole. I'm in hospital thing."

"Yes, pretty unfortunate circumstances to meet you in, Roman Williams."

Roman's gaze snapped to the door and landed on Tony Stark. "Oh!" He exhaled. "H-Hi!"

Peter's grin grew brighter. "Hey Mr. Stark!"

"Call me Tony- whatever, y'know what, I'll be the higher man here." Tony looked over at Roman again. "Anyway, I've apparently become this… collector of children. That sounds weird."

Roman giggled a bit. He was probably delirious.

"Children flock to me because apparently I'm a good father figure." Tony shrugged. "If you're going to do that, I'm pretty used to it now. I have one blood-child and then like, two kids who see me as their dad."

"Mr. Stark-"

"Peter, you're not allowed to argue, you called me Dad last week." Tony smirked at Peter before sighing. "Read your file. Sorry about your family, Roman. Peter seems to have already adopted you, so… would you like to come back with us? To America, I mean."

"To America-" Roman stopped, eyes wide. Excitement filled him, and he opened his mouth to agree before remembering his friends. He stopped, grin morphing into a frown. "Oh, um… I'd love to, but my friends-"

"You'd be able to come back and visit them whenever you wanted, I'd cover all the costs," Tony explained in a flippant tone.

Roman's frown deepened. "Well… I do have some friends in America I was meaning to meet eventually…"

"So you'll do it?" Peter asked, bouncing his leg excitedly.

Roman folded his arms over his chest. "I- fuck it. Yeah, I will."

Peter shot to his feet. "Great! Okay, okay, um, we'll need to get your stuff from your house. I'm pretty sure you're going to be discharged from the hospital soon, but there's something weird with your DNA that Mr. Stark wants to get checked out at the Avengers Compound-"

"What's wrong with my DNA?" Roman exclaimed, aghast.

Tony shrugged. "We don't know. The doctors in Australia don't seem to be all that bright. We were planning on staying for another week, but this seems important enough to give me an excuse to return home, thank god."

Roman chuckled. "I know the feeling," he mumbled, swinging his legs off the side of the bed. He was surprised to find himself able to stand, albeit a bit wobbly. He glanced around the room briefly and took quick stock, spotting his bag. He shuffled over to it and searched through it, sighing with relief when he found his headphones - relatively undamaged - and hung them around his neck. He turned to Tony and Peter, a little smile on his face. "Okay, um... let's go to my place then!"


	2. Chapter 2

Roman unlocked the door and stepped inside, biting on his tongue to avoid calling out to his mum. She's not here, he reminded himself, leading Tony and Peter in and shutting the door.

"You said you were poor, right?" Peter asked quietly.

Roman nodded.

"This place looks really good for a poor person," he murmured.

Roman shrugged, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets. He meandered over to his room, pushing open the door and stepping inside. He glanced around, spotted a large bag and grabbed it, beginning to put a few important things in. He risked a quick look back outside, taking note of where Tony and Peter stood, then quickly shoved his binder into his bag and covered it with a few other items. He shuffled over to his desk and packed up his art supplies and computer, putting them and a few other essentials into the bag. Bag almost full, Roman looked around again and spotted his favourite toy from when he was six. He hesitated, staring unblinkingly at it, before slowly reaching to grab it and placing it into the bag. Satisfied, Roman stood and shuffled out of his room again, quietly closing the door behind him. He sighed, looking around wishfully.

"You ready to go?" Peter asked, stepping up to Roman and holding a hand near him uncertainly.

With a shrug, Roman leaned slightly on Peter, sighing as Peter wrapped comforting arms around him. He shivered, slung his bag over his back and blinked at Tony. "Let's go," he murmured.

The trip to the airport was quiet and tense. Roman thought of Peter as someone who would talk unnecessarily, though he was grateful when Peter didn't. Roman flipped his headphones up onto his head, turned them on and swiped through Spotify, selecting a playlist and then looking out the window. It was weird to think about how he was in a car with Iron Man and Spider-Man, so he chose not to and instead tried to subtly mouth the lyrics to the songs he listened to. If Tony or Peter noticed, they didn't draw attention to it and for that he was thankful.

They reached the airport and Roman's eyes went wide, bugging out at the sight of a small plane with the words Stark Industries on the side. "Are we going in a private plane?" Roman whispered, amazed.

Tony laughed. "Well, yeah! You ever been on a plane before?"

"Yeah, can only remember one trip though."

"Have you been overseas?" Peter asked.

Roman nodded. "That's the trip I remember. It was from last year, my class and I went to Spain."

"Why Spain?"

"I was in an intensive Spanish program at my school. The school sent us on a trip to the country for four weeks so we could experience a Spanish school and explore a bit of Spain. It was pretty fun," Roman explained, shrugging at the last sentence.

Peter's eyes went wide with awe. "Are you fluent in Spanish?" He whispered.

Roman fidgeted nervously under Peter's and Tony's intense gazes. "Um, kinda? I can hold a conversation, but I still struggle with a few words and conjugations."

Tony took off his glasses and levelled Roman with a strange look he couldn't decipher. "So, if we were to speak in Spanish the entire plane flight, you'd have no problem?"

Peter shot Tony a strange look.

"Um, probably?" Roman shifted uncomfortably. "Can we just… get on the plane? Please?"

"Yes!" Peter took Roman's hand and led him onto the plane. Roman's face flushed and he turned back to look at Tony, who was chuckling softly. Roman went redder and ducked his head, turning to pay attention to where he was going.

Peter sat down with a grin. "There! You can pick where you want to sit, you don't have to sit with me."

Roman smiled. "The flight to America is probably the longest thing in the world, there's no way in hell I'm sitting alone for that long."

Peter's grin brightened and Roman swore then and there that he would protect Peter, even though Peter was older. He was just too… cute.

The two talked for a lot of the plane flight, but when they started nodding off in the middle of sentences Tony told them to sleep, 'or else.' Peter started giggling so Roman wasn't too uncomfortable with the joke, but he curled in on himself to sleep anyway. The seat was nice and warm, and his hoodie was soft, so he managed to sleep without much trouble.

When he woke up again, Roman squinted out of the plane windows. The twenty hour flight had passed without much disturbance, for which Roman was grateful for. All the villains that attacked New York would have a field day if they saw a Stark Industries plane. It touched down and the three stepped onto the ground, Roman's legs trembling slightly from exhaustion. The ride back to the tower was completely blurred, and Roman was slightly convinced he slept the entire way.

When Roman woke up again he was in a bed, still in the clothes he travelled with. The boy jerked upright and shuffled over to the bags, digging out his pyjamas. He paused, blinking uncertainly, and looked around, taking stock of the room. This bedroom was fucking massive. The bed was a king size, with the softest looking blankets in the world. It was a galaxy spread, similar to the one on his bed in Australia. There were way too many pillows - can never have enough pillows, Roman silently corrected himself - and the walls were a light green. He rubbed his feet on the carpet and could have purred it felt so good. He made his way over to a door and opened it, peeking in.

He had his own bathroom! That would certainly help things. He slipped inside and shut the door, set his clothes down and turned on the shower.

"Greetings, Mr. Williams," a voice echoed around the room. Roman flinched, hugging himself defensively as he looked around.

"Wh-who is that?" Roman whispered.

"I am FRIDAY, Tony's personal AI. I function throughout the entire tower. If you ever need assistance, you can ask me for help," the voice explained.

The tension in Roman's shoulders slowly eased out. "Okay. Thanks, FRIDAY."

"No problem, Mr. Williams."

Roman stepped toward the shower and undressed, slipping inside. He stood under the warm water for a solid ten minutes before washing himself as quickly as possible and getting back out. He towelled himself dry - why is everything so soft? \- and slipped his pyjamas on, re-donning the hoodie. He stepped out of the bathroom and looked around, trying to find a clock.

"Uh… FRIDAY, what time is it?" He asked softly.

"It is currently 7:13PM, Mr. Williams."

Roman's eyes went wide. "Wow, I'm really jetlagged," he huffed amusedly.

"I have informed Boss that you are awake. He says, and I quote, 'if you're going to be living here, you gotta meet the Avengers at some point. What better time to do it than now?'"

Roman went still, then forcibly relaxed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Um, do I have to?"

"Boss says you don't, but it would be better so that you don't stumble into them later on and startle them."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be very good," Roman breathed, laughing slightly. "Okay. Um. Tell him I'll be there in a bit."

"Take as long as you need," FRIDAY responded, going quiet.

Roman shuffled over to his bag and dug out his binder. He quickly put it on and then looked around.

"FRIDAY, how do I get to where Tony is?"

He listened to FRIDAY's directions to get to the common area. He hesitated by the doorway, then made himself take a step forward.

"Roman!"

Peter's voice made Roman look up, and a little nervous smile wormed it's way onto his face. "H-hi," he murmured.

"You tired?" Tony asked from the table, looking at him.

Roman shrugged. "How long did I sleep?"

Peter grinned. "Around about ten hours."

Roman's eyes went wide, but Peter was quick to reassure him. "Don't worry about it, when I went to Europe-" his voice dropped out suspiciously but he picked back up almost as if nothing happened, "-I was incredibly jetlagged."

"And you had to do Spider-Man stuff, I saw the news," Roman responded. He then made the mistake of looking past Peter, and spotted the rest of the Avengers. He went still, anxiety clawing its' way up his chest.

"Roman, these are the Avengers. Avengers, meet Roman, he'll be staying with us."

Captain America - THE Captain America - narrowed his eyes at Roman. "And… why is that?"

"Roman's DNA is all funky after his bus blew up and I want to take a look at it," Tony fired back. "Is that a problem?"

Captain America shook his head. "No, Stark."

"Excellent." Tony stood, clapping his hands. "Well, you've seen them, they've seen you, I think that's good enough. Why don't we take a look at your DNA now, Roman?"

Roman shifted from side to side, rubbing his fingers together in his hoodie pockets. "Uh, okay." He looked at Peter, who immediately made his way over.

"I'll come with!" He announced.

Roman grinned sheepishly at the elder teenager, and then the two followed Tony down toward the Medwing. He threw open the doors with a flourish, striding over to a man with messy brown hair and a lab coat on.

"Brucie-bear!" Tony called. "I brought Roman with me!"

"Oh, good," Bruce replied, turning and smiling reassuringly at Roman. "Hey there. I'm Bruce, I'm gonna check on your DNA because Tony insisted there was something weird. Nothing bad, if it was bad there'd probably be something physically wrong that we could see."

Roman nodded. "Okay."

"Why's Peter here?" Bruce asked, directing the question toward Tony.

"For emotional support!" Peter replied.

"Ah."

Roman shuffled his feet. "So do I just-"

Bruce huffed good-naturedly, sending a tired grin in Roman's direction. "Come over here, hop on that bed and I'll get some stuff ready." He then turned to Tony. "I'd ask you to leave but you seem to have adopted this one already."

Tony spluttered and Peter laughed. Roman's face flushed red and he sat on the bed, discreetly tugging at his binder.

Bruce made his way over to the bed and Roman shrank back slightly. "These following questions are important, so that I don't accidentally reveal anything that you want to reveal yourself. Now…"

The questions at first were simple. 'Are you on any medication?' Roman thought back to the antidepressants he had grown sick of and thrown out. "I was, but I stopped taking them." 'Do you have any mental health issues?' "Anxiety, depression and I used to have an eating disorder." The last one is a lie, he thought ashamedly. 'Are you neurotypical?' "No, I'm autistic."

Tony hummed, interested.

'Are you cisgender?'

Roman hesitated for much longer than necessary. He shook his head.

Bruce smiled comfortingly at Roman. "Don't worry, neither am I," he murmured, stepping back. "Okay then, that's all the questions I have. I'm going to get FRIDAY to scan your body, and take a blood and urine sample to check your DNA."

Oh, god, not a urine sample. Roman's face heated up and he nodded uncertainly.

"FRIDAY?"

A soft blue light shot out from a camera facing them, and ran up and down Roman's body. The boy stiffened, but the light emitted an almost comforting feeling and his muscles loosened. Bruce took a bit of Roman's blood, and sent him into the adjacent bathroom to do the urine sample. Somehow, somehow, Roman did it successfully.

While Bruce ran the tests, Peter and Roman spoke about anything and everything. From the memes they had to catch up on from being dusted, to the fact that the world was edging on nuclear war.

The tests were done. Bruce looked over them, eyes darting along the screen. His eyebrows furrowed slightly and Roman's stomach dropped.

"Is anything wrong?" Peter asked, voicing Roman's own concerns. Roman's fingers twitched, and he curled a hand around the opposite wrist. The familiar movement calmed him slightly, so he looked up at Bruce.

"Hmm… There is something weird about your DNA, Roman, but nothing's active. I believe that you have dormant powers, that will not awaken until something specific happens, but I can't tell what that specific thing will be."

Roman frowned. "So, I will have powers, but I don't yet?"

"And you could get them at any moment," Bruce confirmed.

"That's comforting," Roman growled, hugging himself and leaning against the wall. He tipped his head back and shut his eyes, hair falling away from his face.

Bruce shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Roman. Until they activate, why don't you relax? Get to know the Avengers and the tower better. It'll be good for you."

Peter's whole face brightened. "Mr. Stark, aren't Thom- uh, Rainbow Weaver-" Peter glanced at Roman, "-and his crew coming to stay for a bit soon?"

"Yep," Tony confirmed. "You'll get to meet Rainbow Weaver, Spidergale, Royal Slinger, Love Bite and Arachnae as well as the Avengers," he said, turning his attention to Roman.

Roman exhaled. "Cool. I get to meet a bunch of superheros who I looked up to since I was old enough to understand that there were dangers in the world, and then I get to live with them." He chuckled dryly. "This sounds like some fucking… fanfiction."

Peter laughed breathlessly. "I thought this was too good to be true as well, but it's fine!"

Roman glanced at Peter and then away again, scuffing his feet against the ground. He stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets a bit harsher than necessary. "Well. I'm still kind of jetlagged, and I found that when I went to Spain the best cure for jetlag was sleeping." He looked around the room. "Unless anyone has any objections."

"You really should eat," Tony implored. "No need for you to collapse on your way to the bathroom at four in the morning."

Roman's face burned. "Fine," he muttered, turning and leaving the room. He heard Peter, Tony and Bruce talking behind him, probably about him, but tried his best to ignore it. He made his way toward the kitchen, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was empty. Ignoring the fact that it was really weird to be snooping around in the Avengers' kitchen, he looked through pantries until he found something without a name on it.

A muesli bar. It had chocolate on it.

Roman took it and ate it quickly, threw out the wrapper and then made his way back to his room. He entered his suite and shut the door, sinking down against it with a shaky breath. He hugged himself for a few minutes, trying to recalibrate and figure out what was going on.

Okay. My close family all died, and I didn't want to bother them. I met Peter, Spider-Man, and then my bus blew up, he saved us but then I passed out. He called Tony motherfucking Stark, he came over, and now I'm in America, in the Avengers tower, and I have dormant powers.

Roman hissed softly and uncurled, undressing and peeling off the binder. He threw it at his bag and made a soft frustrated noise, redressed himself and fell back onto the bed.

Wow, it's soft, was the last coherent thought he had before slipping into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

When Bruce said they could activate at any moment, Roman didn't think he meant that following night.

So when Roman woke up and ripped the fucking door from its' hinges, he naturally panicked. "FRIDAY, is Peter awake?"

"Yes, Mr. Williams. Would you like me to call him up here?"

"Yes, please. Please."

Roman sat on his bed and stared at the door on the ground, then at his unassuming, lanky body. He tugged his hoodie over his head and blinked up at Peter as he walked through the doorway.

"So," Peter said, drawing out the word. "I guess they activated?"

Roman nodded, breath leaving him in a short huff. "So now I guess we just have to figure out what the rest of my powers are."

"Should I get Mr. Stark?"

Roman shook his head frantically. "I just- I just ripped the fucking door off!"

"He won't be mad," Peter said with a laugh. "Bucky and Steve have done so much worse. They keep breaking beds."

Roman's face burned and he laughed with surprise. "Oh. Oh my god."

"Yeah, they haven't learned yet that with their super stamina-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Roman interrupted, holding his hands out and laughing loudly. Peter snorted, walking over to stand in front of Roman. The shorter boy tipped his head back, gazing into Peter's deep brown eyes.

_Wow. He's really pretty._

Roman's face burned and he offered a sheepish grin.

"Mr. Stark told me last night that Tho-Rainbow Weaver and his gang are coming over today. We could talk to the Spiderlings about your powers, they only got theirs pretty recently."

Roman nodded. He glanced past Peter to the door. "Uh-"

"Like I said, Mr. Stark won't mind." He winked at Roman and the smaller boy flushed again. "FRIDAY, when Mr. Stark wakes up could you tell him that Roman's powers activated and he broke the door?"

"Of course, Peter."

Peter grinned at Roman. "Follow me, there are a few gyms that should be empty that we can try and discover your powers with!"

Roman hesitated, before nodding. "Okay, yeah. Let's go."

The two slipped out of Roman's room and darted down the hall, sliding into the elevator with short giggles. "The gyms, please, Fri!" Peter requested.

"Sure thing."

The elevator descended. Roman shuffled from side to side, glancing around himself almost subconsciously. He noticed Peter open his mouth out of the corner of his vision, but the elevator doors opened and saved him from being questioned. The two darted out and entered one of the gyms, shutting and locking the door behind them.

"Hey Fri, let me know when Tho- Rainbow Weaver and his bunch get here, please?" Peter called upward.

If the AI had a face, Roman would've sworn it was smiling. "Sure thing, Peter."

"Alright…" Peter walked toward the centre of the room and pushed his sleeves up, beginning to stretch. "Stretch first, we don't want to tear anything."

Roman snorted but complied, rolling up his hoodie sleeves and bending forward to touch his toes.

They stretched for about five minutes before Roman grew bored. He stopped and rolled his sleeves back down, a subconscious habit from the previous year. He watched Peter stretch and marvelled at his flexibility, before remembering that he was Spider-Man and of course he was flexible.

"Why are you Spider-Man, and not Spider-Boy?" Roman blurted.

Peter stopped, then began to laugh. "Because Spider-Boy sounds worse? Also I don't want some uptight people with their heads up their asses trying to boss me around."

"Fair."

"Peter, Thomas has arrived."

Peter looked up at the ceiling. "Nice! Let him know I'll be up in a bit."

"Thomas?"

Peter froze. "Uh… yeah! Rainbow Weaver!"

"Uh huh." Roman rolled his eyes. "Have you not thought about the fact that I'll need to find out their identities if I'm going to be living here?"

"Oh."

Roman started laughing, doubling over. Peter's face went bright red.

"Let's just go greet them, please," Peter groaned.

Roman wiped at his eyes and grinned at Peter. "Alright, Spider-Boy."

"Oi!" Peter ran at Roman, who ducked and darted out of the gym, cackling. They chased each other into the elevator and tripped over each other, collapsing to a giggling pile on the floor.

"Whatever floor Thomas is on, Fri!" Peter coughed out, lapsing into another laughing fit.

"Of course." The elevator began to rise.

Roman lay on his back as the giggles subsided, though a dopey grin remained on his face.

"Oh, Fri, could you warn Thomas and co. that someone they don't know is here? Tell them he's staying here."

"Certainly, Peter," FRIDAY responded.

The elevator doors opened and Roman hauled himself to his feet, helping Peter up. They stepped out and headed for the gaggle of five people.

"Peter!" One of them called, and Roman found himself staring at the face of none other than Thomas Sanders. He shoved his hands into his pockets and his eyes blew wide.

"Hi Thomas!" Peter bounded forward and basically leaped into the man's arms. While such a move would have caused a normal person to stumble, Thomas merely took it in stride and caught the teenager.

"This your friend?" Thomas asked, gesturing to Roman. "Hi there! What's your name?"

Roman seriously wished he could fall into the ground right about now. "H-hi. I'm Roman. I- uh, I watch your YouTube videos, and I didn't actually think I'd ever get to meet you because until like, yesterday, I lived in Australia."

"Hi Roman," Thomas greeted with a smile. He set Peter back on the ground - the boy shot a comforting grin Roman's way before turning to talk to the other teenagers - and walked over to Roman.

"Hey, my name's Roman as well!" One of the teenagers called, peering past Peter. He jogged up to Thomas's side and grinned at the shorter teen. "You're Australian, you said?"

Roman nodded.

"That's so cool, I've never been to Australia, what's it like?"

"Okay, Roman, give him a bit of space," Thomas chided gently, laughing.

The shorter Roman rocked on his feet a bit. "It's… nice. My friends are back there so I get to visit whenever I want to, Tony said he'd pay for whatever trip I wanted. Maybe if you wanted to, you could come with…?"

Taller Roman's face lit up like someone flicked a light switch. "Really?" He asked, excitedly bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Uh, yeah, if Thomas and Tony were fine with it."

Peter peeled himself away from a boy with round glasses and turned to Thomas excitedly. "Roman has powers that activated during the night! We were trying to figure them out earlier but we didn't really get far."

"Should I have brought Joan and Talyn along?" Thomas joked.

Peter shrugged. "You and Logan are really smart, you could probably figure it out yourselves."

One of the teenagers looked over. "Did I hear my name?"

"Yep!" Peter confirmed, grinning. "I mentioned you because Roman here," he gestured to the shorter Roman, "Has powers that activated last night. Thomas joked about needing Joan and Talyn, but I said that you and Thomas are smart enough to find Roman's new powers!"

Roman's face heated up and he blinked owlishly.

"Come introduce yourselves to him!" The taller Roman said, dropping into a mock bow. "Greetings, other Roman! If you have powers I guess you'll be a hero as well, can we tell him who we are?" Roman directed the question toward Thomas.

The man hesitated for a few seconds before nodding reluctantly. "If you want to."

"Cool!" The taller Roman looked down at his name-sharer, grinning. "I'm Royal Slinger!"

The shorter Roman's eyes went wide. "Woah…"

One of the teenagers looked over. He had messy hair that fell in front of his eyes, and he wore a patched hoodie. "I'm Virgil, Spidergale."

The teen with round glasses bounced over. "I'm Patton! Love Bite."

Logan adjusted his own glasses - Roman noticed his and Patton's glasses had no lenses - and cleared his throat. "Logan. Arachnae."

"And I'm Rainbow Weaver," Thomas finished, grinning at the shorter Roman. "Now with introductions out of the way, let's go find your powers."

They had tested everything they could think of for the past two hours to no avail. They were not any closer to finding more of Roman's powers than he and Peter had been in the morning.

Patton started, eyes lighting up. "I thought of one! Empathy or telepathy!"

Thomas nodded firmly. "Okay. Roman," he said, turning to address the teen, "I'll need you to close your eyes to try this one. The way we did it with Patton's empathy, we had him _slowly_ separate himself from his body and roam around the building with his… empathy. I don't know how to phrase it."

Logan sighed and pinched his nose. "Patton's empathy has a certain energy to it. He can manipulate that energy and roam around in a wide radius, however to do so it requires separating from the physical body for a brief amount of time. It is impossible to get lost there, as the energy is centred in the body."

"Okay," Roman responded, voice wavering slightly. "So would I just… 'feel around' with the energy?"

"In a way, yes," Logan conceded. "If it works, do not feel alarmed when your main senses fade away. Trust in the energy." He appeared affronted by the mere notion of it, but Patton nodded eagerly.

"It was weird at first," Patton admitted. "My hearing dropped first, but I could still hear people and speak to them, it was just like there was a… barrier. Like sound-muffling headphones!"

Roman breathed in, out. He nodded. "Okay," he repeated. He sat cross legged on the floor and closed his eyes, focusing his attention on the others in the room. He sat there for a few minutes, and was about ready to give up when he heard something.

' _He's taking an awfully long time to make a reaction_.' It sounded kinda like Virgil. Roman's eyes snapped open and he looked around.

"Um. I think I have telepathy?"

Thomas's whole demeanour changed. "Great! There's a different way to interact with your telepathic powers, which might be why it took so long. For this one, you have to imagine - not visualise, there's a difference - that you're slipping into someone's mind. Or something of the sort, I don't have telepathy so I don't know how it works." He chuckled sheepishly.

Roman was vibrating with excitement. "I think I heard one of Virgil's thoughts."

The teen in question stiffened, and Roman rushed to explain. "It was nothing bad, just the one from right before I opened my eyes." Virgil relaxed slightly and nodded.

"Okay, we've got telepathy and super strength marked down. Should we give elemental powers a shot?" Logan questioned, moving over to the notebook to jot something down.

Roman nodded eagerly.

"Pyrokinesis test…"

It was the last test of the day; aerokinesis. Everyone was in a poor mood, and varying levels of bored and/or hungry.

"Okay." Logan took control of the situation with ease, standing and effectively silencing everyone. "For this one we want something simple. If you have aerokinesis we don’t want to blow the entire building down."

Roman nodded, eyes widening in slight panic.

"Peter, can you go find a small fan?" Logan requested, turning to the boy in question.

Peter nodded, hair flopping everywhere, before he turned and darted out of the room.

"While we wait for him," Patton stated, breaking the awkward silence, "Why don't we say something about ourselves? Only if you want to," he amended, addressing Virgil who had a grimace of unease on his face.

Logan adjusted his lens-less glasses. "I have Middle Eastern heritage. I live with my mother and father, and I have an older brother in college."

"I live with my mother and father! I don't know what my heritage is, it's kinda a mess," Patton started, giggling. "My older brothers live with us as well. They're pretty annoying but it's endearing. Their names are Alex and George, but I call him Georgie."

Virgil shifted slightly, as if he was going to say something. Roman fought the urge to peer into his mind with his newfound powers. When Virgil didn't speak, the other Roman did instead.

"I live with my mamá and three siblings, an older sister and two younger _demon_ twins." He looked at Virgil, who was smirking in remembrance of some unstated event. "I'm bilingual, I speak Spanish at home."

The shorter Roman perked up. "I was in an intensive Spanish program for three years, and it included a trip to Spain for a month. I don't want to lose fluency in the language, maybe I could practice with you?"

"Of course!" The taller of the two beamed, and the shorter flushed. Why were they all so cute?

Peter chose that moment to burst through the open doors with a fan in his arms. "Got it!" He announced.

"We could see," Logan commented dryly, though not without a hint of humour. "Alright. Set it in the centre of the room, facing away from us. Roman, I want you to go and attempt to blow it toward us, in any way you think would work. Nothing too strong, just redirecting the force of the fan at the same speed."

Roman nodded jerkily, awkwardly hauling himself to his feet and shuffling over to the fan. He scrutinized it for a few moments before shaking himself and getting down to work. He let his attention slip over the feeling of the breeze on his legs, subconsciously raising his arms slightly as he did so.

_Follow my command,_ he willed, and so it did. The wind responded slightly, increasing in speed before Roman lost concentration and it went back to normal. He swore under his breath and returned his focus to the task at hand, willing the wind to bend and change direction. He cracked open his eyes a little, so as to not get distracted but enough so he could tell where it was going. To his astonishment, the wind he was bending was visible to him, appearing to be a faint white colour. He grinned a bit, opening his eyes more as his confidence grew. He made a gentle grabbing motion with his hands - careful of being too violent with his actions, lest he knock someone over - and directed the wind toward the spider gang. He watched gleefully as Patton's hair bounced, and he made the wind brush up against Patton's cheek. The aforementioned teen giggled, rubbing at his face.

"Hell yeah," Roman whispered, letting his control over the wind drop.

"That was amazing!" Patton exclaimed, beaming. Thomas and Virgil nodded their agreement, and Peter bounded over.

"You have aerokinesis!" Peter yelped, laughing.

Roman grinned and nodded.

"We'll stop for food now and pick back up tomorrow," Logan interrupted their cheering, though he also had a small smile on his face. "We've discovered what may be all of your powers, now we just have to train them to become stronger. After a while, you may be able to detect someone's position with your telepathy, or bend the wind around you to fly."

"I could fly?" Roman yelped.

"In theory, yes," Logan confirmed. "However, we can't begin to test that until we've strengthened your powers."

Roman exhaled. "Okay. This is- this is really weird."

"Yeah, getting our powers was weird too, I kept sticking to everything because I was so stressed," Virgil said. He cracked a dry smile and Roman relaxed in relief.

"Alright, I think it's food time," Thomas interrupted. "Hey Fri, let Tony know we're on our way up and we've found what we think is all of Roman's powers."

Roman's stomach growled at the mention of food and he frowned, shifting slightly. Before he could suggest practicing more, a wave of exhaustion hit him and he stumbled slightly.

"Oh, kiddo, are you okay?" Patton asked, eyes shining with concern.

"Just real tired," Roman mumbled.

"Yeah, that happens when you haven’t trained yourself properly. Using your powers equates to physical exertion," Thomas explained, frowning sympathetically. "Let's get you some food and then rest for a bit. We won't continue until tomorrow, however you can attempt to _carefully_ put your powers into use. If you break something don't worry about it, Tony has way more than enough money."

Roman nodded and vaguely noticed his legs trembling. "Food sounds nice right 'bout now," he murmured.


	4. Chapter 4

After they were fed and had settled into one of the living rooms, Peter jumped up.

"Mr. Stark bought like, five Nintendo Switches because of how many people live in the Tower. I'll go get them!" Then he turned and darted out of the room.

The rest of the teenagers blinked after him then collapsed into faint giggles.

"Ah, Roman! We could practice Spanish now if you want!" The taller Roman offered.

The shorter Roman shifted position, crossing his legs under him. "Really?"

"Sure!" The older laughed. "¿Tienes confianza en tu abilidad de hablar?"

Roman nodded, grinning wickedly. "Sí, tengo mucho confianza. Cada año en mi clase dedicado a español, tuvimos dos exámenes de hablar. Cada examen, mi nota era una A."

"¡Muy bien!" The elder Roman congratulated.

"Back!" Peter ran into the room, and Roman blinked before bursting into laughter. "What?" Peter asked, tilting his head confusedly.

"Did you forget which way was up?" Patton questioned, giggling.

Peter's face went bright red and he dropped to the ground, clutching the Nintendo Switches to his chest. He passed them out and placed the spare one to the side, then started up the TV.

The six people spent a few hours playing games. Roman quickly learned a lot more about everyone's personalities from the way they played. Logan was definitely the smartest, and he used more analytical and logical responses to problems. The other Roman had more of an adventurous personality and would always try to run off from the others and would constantly get himself into trouble. Patton was the kindest, and he would stop to talk to every NPC. Virgil made sure everyone had enough gear, and would spend his time collecting the currency and buying food and potions to distribute amongst the group. He was also relatively good at disarming arguments between Logan and Roman, and would make sure everyone was a high enough level before entering the next area. Thomas tried his best to corral the teenagers but had no luck.

Roman found himself enjoying the time they spent together. When it came time for dinner and Tony walked in to check on them, he found majority of them passed out on the couch.

"Did they have fun?" He asked Thomas quietly.

Thomas nodded, a content smile on his face. "They're all such good friends, it'll be good for Roman to spend a lot of time around them."

Tony cracked a small smile. "I'm thankful Peter practically adopted him as soon as he laid eyes on him. I'm not sure what we'd do with a superpowered teen running around Australia on his own."

"Family?" Thomas questioned. Tony shook his head, and Thomas frowned.

"When Peter called me, the bus he'd been on had crashed and then blown up. I think whatever was in the bus activated some dormant genes that in turn activated his powers." Tony chuckled, remembering something. "Peter sounded so panicked when he called, I thought he was the one in trouble. Peter met the kid the day before!"

Thomas snorted. "That sounds like Peter, alright."

Tony nodded, a content sigh escaping his lips. "Definitely."

Happy with what he had heard, Roman burrowed further into Thomas's side, curling up a bit. He faintly thought that he should be embarrassed, he was falling asleep on one of his heroes, but the only emotion he could muster at that moment was happiness, with the situation and himself.

_Been a while since I was happy with myself,_ Roman noted. It was the last coherent thought he made and could remember before he fell asleep.

_A noise he hadn't heard for a while filtered through his ears._

_Roman whipped around, searching for the source desperately. His gaze landed on his siblings; they appeared to be choking on something._

_"Oh, shit!" Roman yelped, running forward. His heart pounded in his ears, making him stumble and his movements jerky. He fell in front of his siblings and the sound grew louder, filling his ears._

_To his horror, his siblings stopped breathing, folding forward to the ground. His vision blurred and he couldn't breathe, it felt like someone was pressing on his chest. He whipped around, and there was the bus. It blew up again and again, right in front of him, burning him every time._

_He turned to his right and watched as Peter was trapped under a building, crying for help. He turned to his left and there were Thomas and co., all fighting some monster. Virgil got hit badly, and was thrown away. He hit something with a sickening crunch and went still._

_Roman - the other one - yelled, swinging over to Virgil, but he was sent flying as well. Patton and Logan both let out cries as they went down. Roman watched with horror as Thomas fought with every tooth and claw, but it was all in vain as he collapsed as well. The monster turned and its' gaze caught Roman._

_The boy froze._

_The monster ran forward and opened its' jaws, ready to eat Roman. There was a flash of pain, and then nothing._

"Roman!"

The boy was pulled to consciousness. He shot upright and fell off the couch, breath wheezing in his chest. The sound around him filtered in and out, and he found he couldn’t concentrate on anything.

A soft sound to his side made him stiffen. He didn't want to turn to the side. The last time he turned to the side bad things happened. The sound happened again, and Roman recognised it as a voice. He slowly turned his head, wide eyes meeting calmer ones. Roman's eyes were full of tears, and he focused quickly on the other person's nose instead of their eyes.

"Breathe for me, Ro."

He managed to catch the meaning of the words after a few seconds to process them. _A panic attack,_ his mind supplied. _You're hyperventilating. Too much oxygen. Breathe slower, into your hands if necessary. Breathing back in carbon dioxide will slow your heart._

Roman followed his own advice. He held his hands over his mouth and forcefully exhaled, inhaling again. He coughed and his mind flashed back to the nightmare, but he shook himself and repeated it. He was right; the carbon dioxide wasn't oxygen, therefore he found his heart slowing. He blinked and looked around, taking in everyone's concerned expressions.

"What happened?" Patton asked, curiosity and concern battling in his tone.

Roman shook his head, not wanting to speak about it. He had an idea, though didn't know if it would work. He held up a hand, wait, and shut his eyes tight, trying to concentrate on pushing a message into everyone's heads.

_Bad nightmare, probably can't speak right now. I'm autistic, it happens sometimes._

He opened his eyes and everyone held some varying expression of shock or sympathy. Patton plopped himself onto the ground beside Roman, hesitantly hovering a hand over Roman's shoulder. When the younger boy gave a nod of assent, Patton wrapped his arms around him and transferred the boy into his lap to hug him. Roman went still, slightly surprised, but accepted the hug anyway. It felt warm and safe, meaning Roman relaxed slightly. Not completely, as he still had residual terror from the nightmare, though he did feel safer and the rest of the nightmare was being chased away.

_You feel like safety,_ Roman told Patton.

The older teenager shifted, a grin breaking out on his face. "I'm glad I do," he murmured. Roman rested his head on Patton's shoulder, holding him tight. He noticed Patton's shoulders shaking, and drew back to look at his face, concerned. Patton's eyes were full of tears, but he offered a reassuring smile to Roman. "Don't worry, it's just my empathy powers."

_Oh, I'm so sorry,_ Roman told him, withdrawing quickly. He hugged himself and breathed, calming his trembling and shooting a smile at Patton. Then he turned his attention to include the rest of the group. _I'm gonna go to my room, if no one has any objections._

Virgil opened his mouth, hesitated, then shut it again. He shifted and then spoke, "If you want to be left alone then go ahead, but I know that… after I wake up from a nightmare, I don't want to be alone."

Roman stopped. He turned to face Virgil, head tilted slightly. He wilted, shaking his head tiredly. _I'm just… exhausted,_ he told them all. _I don't want to sleep and I don't want to be alone, but I don't want to worry you all._

"You being on your own after something like that would worry us more," Peter explained, fidgeting. "You can stay with us, if you want."

Roman blinked, slightly startled. He dipped his head tiredly, sinking forward into Virgil's hesitant embrace. He lowered the two to the couch, and Roman curled up again, rubbing at his arms self-consciously. Virgil caught the movements and gently took hold of his arms, stopping him from rubbing the skin raw. Roman blinked up at Virgil and mumbled something incomprehensible. Before Virgil could ask him to repeat it, Roman's breath slowed as he slipped into sleep.

"What happened to him?" The other Roman asked after a few seconds of silence. "I've never seen anyone wake up so violently like that."

"His fear was so strong I could feel it without even touching him," Patton noted miserably.

Virgil looked up at them, brows furrowed. "I heard him say something… I think it was one of our names? I'm not too sure. It must've been a pretty bad nightmare."

"He's only fifteen," Peter added nervously. "What could he have seen to give him a panic attack like that?"

"There were a few names he mumbled that I didn't recognise," Thomas pointed out. "Siblings, maybe?"

Logan crossed his legs underneath him and pulled at his collar. "Potentially. How about we don’t talk about him without him being awake to listen? It'd be rude. Let's leave it until he wakes up again."

The rest of them nodded their agreement. Virgil took his earbuds and put them in, turning on some music while he absentmindedly combed a hand through Roman's hair. The other Roman switched on the TV and one of the Switches, lowering the volume to one bar, before grabbing Patton and starting up Mario Kart. Logan twisted and grabbed his book, while Thomas unlocked his phone and began browsing something. Probably Twitter, knowing the man.

Peter watched over the sleeping teen, a worried glint in his eyes. _What could he have seen to make him have a nightmare like that?_ He wondered, before turning his attention to the Mario Kart game.

"So… are you willing to tell us what you dreamt of last night?"

Roman froze, then forced his muscles to loosen. "Um… I'd rather… not?"

"Kiddo, with a reaction to it like that, I'd prefer knowing so that we can help you," Patton reasoned calmly. "You absolutely don't have to if you really don't want to, but it might be better for you if you do."

Roman sighed, rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. "I relived watching my siblings choke to death," he stated monotonously. "Then it changed, which never normally happens, and I saw Peter," he gestured in Peter's direction, "Trapped under a building-" the aforementioned teen flinched, rubbing at his arms, "-and you four and Thomas getting beaten by a monster, which then turned and ate me."

The room went dead silent. Everyone was staring at Roman, jaw dropped.

Peter reacted first. "W-well… that, um… that sucks."

"Yeah, it really does," Roman growled.

Patton flinched. "Kiddo… we had no idea. You watched your siblings…" his voice cut out, and he looked at the ground.

Roman sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, Pat. I'm not good at… regulating my emotions. They get kinda out of control at times."

"Nerdy McSpecs over here is your polar opposite," the other Roman joked, pointing at Logan. "He's so good at pretending he doesn't feel anything that he acts like a robot!"

Logan glared at Roman, but the tall teenager just laughed. "I may not feel… nothing, but I do have much less emotions than the average human."

The shortest in the room watched Logan closely, and noticed subtle things about the way he held himself. His hands where either clasped together or in his pockets, to hide probable trembling. He avoided looking anyone in the eye, which could mean one of two things. Logan was autistic, or Logan was lying. Judging by other evidence, it was the latter.

"You're lying," Roman blurted before he could stop himself. Several eyes turned to him and he shrank under all their gazes, but continued in a wavering voice. "You- um. You're hiding your hands, you're avoiding eye contact, you said that slow enough to indicate you were trying to think of something, and um. It's just called repression."

"I'm not repressing if there's nothing to repress," Logan said monotonously. "However, your ability to discern whether someone is lying or not is remarkable."

Roman tilted his head back. "So you're admitting you lied?"

"Only because you didn't look into my head."

Roman frowned. "I respect your privacy, Logan. I wouldn't do it if I had another choice."

"That is… uh. Comforting," he said, clearing his throat. "Well, I do believe this conversation is over, if I am incorrect do inform me."

"This one might be over, but I was thinking of suggesting we play Uno?" Patton responded sheepishly, holding up the pack of cards.

Logan rolled his eyes. "We'll be here all night. Sure, Pat, we can play Uno. Any objections?" His gaze told everyone to agree, and so they quickly did. Besides, no one wanted to be the one to reject Patton.

The teens played the game well into the night, though Logan left to sleep at around 10. In the end, the youngest of them won with a score of 10 rounds. Patton ultimately lost, but he appeared to be having the most fun and didn't really mind.

When Tony and Thomas walked in later to check on them, they found five teenagers passed out in a pile, with Roman in the middle. They all had the most content smiles on their faces, and appeared to be sleeping peacefully. The two adults transferred the teens to their rooms, then they themselves went to bed as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spanish used:  
> 1 - Are you confident in your ability to speak?  
> 2 - Yes, I'm very confident. Each year in my class dedicated to Spanish, we had speaking exams. Each exam, my result was an A  
> 3 - Very good!


	5. Chapter 5

Roman woke up peacefully the next day. He stretched, yawning, and looked around curiously. He didn't remember going to his room, so he assumed Thomas or Tony carried him here. The mere idea of it made his face burn, so he dismissed the thought.

As Roman dressed himself, he thought back to the past few days in the Tower. His hero worship for Tony and Thomas had gone down significantly, and he was now comfortable to make jokes around them. The other Spiderlings were fun to hang around with, and Roman thought that what they had was akin to a friendship.

The other Avengers still made his heart skip a beat, as he was not yet used to being in their presence so casually. He flushed bright red as he remembered an embarrassing situation where he briefly forgot he was living with the Avengers, and Steve walked out from behind a corner. Roman had squeaked and run away.

He finished dressing and pulled his hoodie over his head, stuffed his hands into his pockets and left the room, striding toward the living area. He heard voices and strained to understand what they were saying, however he decided after a while that it wasn't all that worth it. When he entered the room, the voices stopped and everyone turned to face him.

"Morning Roman!" Patton chirped, grinning.

Roman smiled. "Morning, Pat." He shuffled toward the cupboard and rifled through it. He found a muesli bar and took it, then turned and scanned the counter. He found an apple and grabbed that as well, sitting beside Patton to eat them.

The other Roman grinned at him. "Hi, shorter me."

Roman scowled. "Hey, older me."

"Hah, I'm taller because I'm older, so suck it."

No, it's because I'm trans, but go off I guess, Roman thought, careful to keep that one to himself. He'd like to go stealth with them, thank you very much.

Virgil appeared soon after, heading straight for the coffee machine. He leaned against the bench as his coffee was made, yawning and rubbing at his eyes.

"Not a morning person?" Roman joked.

Virgil rolled his eyes and didn't respond.

At exactly nine in the morning Logan appeared as well. He, too, headed for the coffee machine and poured himself some from Virgil's brew, doing a double take at seeing the exhausted teenager. "You're up before me for once. I never thought I'd see the day."

Virgil groaned. "Shut up, nerd."

"You're a nerd too," Logan pointed out smugly, grabbing his cup and sitting beside them. He frowned at Roman, and the younger teen shrank slightly. "Is that all you ate?" He asked, gesturing to the muesli bar wrapper.

"O-oh, no, I also had an apple," Roman stammered, turning his attention to his fingernails and picking at them nervously. He glanced up at Logan and then back down, ears burning.

"You need to eat more for breakfast," Logan chided gently.

Roman scowled but didn't respond. He felt Patton's concerned gaze on his back and he hopped down, heading back into the kitchen to look around for anything else to eat.

"Hey, can anyone here cook?" He called absentmindedly.

"Ooh! I can!" Patton yelped, sliding down from his stool and bounding to Roman's side. The younger teen was relieved to realise Patton was only a bit taller than him. "What were you thinking of?"

Roman winced, pushing his glasses up his nose a bit. "Um… p-pancakes," he whispered.

"I can do that, if you want!" Patton grinned. He eased his way past Roman and scanned the cupboard, grabbing the ingredients needed. He rifled through the drawers until he found mixing bowls and spoons, then set everything out and got to work.

As Patton cooked breakfast, Roman pulled out his phone to check social media. He had several Discord notifications, and realised with a jolt that he'd disappeared without warning. He quickly explained the situation to his friends back in Australia, apologising profusely. They all accepted his story with varying levels of scepticism, and two of them started keysmashing violently because he was living with the fucking Avengers, why was that??

Roman briefly tossed up the idea of telling them about his powers, then dismissed it. They didn't need to know. He told them that he had met another teen who lived here, and then his bus crashed, the teen found him and panicked and called Tony, who then begrudgingly took him in. Roman decided then and there that he had the most amazing friends.

'What abt your mum?' Someone asked.

Roman frowned at his phone, mind darting toward his deceased family. 'She died,' he told them. 'Don't want to talk about it.'

Everyone offered their condolences and support to him, and Roman rubbed at his eyes harshly. He wasn't going to cry, not here.

Tony strode into the room and leaned on the counter, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. Roman's head jerked up and he watched the man curiously, head tilted. "What's wrong?" He asked softly.

"Peter's class is having a field trip here," Tony muttered. "The press will have a fucking field day if they discover you."

Roman shrank back slightly, nervous, but Tony realised his mistake and made quick work of correcting himself. "I'm not blaming you for being here, I'm blaming the press, because they're all vultures. Idiotas…" He shook himself and sighed. "If you want to help with the tour around the tower you can, the students will probably be suspicious because of how young you look but just lie and say you have a hormone deficiency or something." He paused. "Wait. You do, technically. You have the wrong dominant hormone."

Roman snorted. "True. Continue."

"Anyway, tell them you have a hormone deficiency that delayed puberty and you're actually the same age as them. I'll get FRIDAY to tell them that on the day as well. We'll send you to the intern labs before that tour so you can get to know the area, that's where they'll be exploring. Introduce them to a few interns, and include Peter in that list. No one outside of the Avengers and close friends know his secret identity, don't reveal it."

"I've had practice hiding things from people before, what with my entire friend group back home being queer. I think I'll be fine," Roman said, tone dry.

Tony nodded awkwardly. "Right, okay. Every month the interns and Avengers have a nerf war. That's coincidentally the day of the tour. Tell the students about it, and then cover for Peter when he 'leaves'. He'll be in the nerf war as Spider-Man, so be careful. Also, no reading minds or using your super strength or wind powers, that'll freak the interns and students out."

"Don't know how to properly control them anyway, don't worry about it," Roman joked.

Tony exhaled, long and slow. "We'll tell you more as we get closer to the tour day. For now, don't worry about it! Just relax."

"Relax. Sure." Roman rolled his eyes and chortled a little. He paused, mulling over the idea in his head, before nodding to himself and looking at Tony's nose. "Uh, if I could figure out a superhero name and get more control over my powers, could I guide the tour as a superhero? Obviously not an Avenger, I'm too young for that, but… surely there are other children with powers in the world, right? I could say I'm part of a program for younger people with superhuman abilities."

"Good idea, I like your thinking," Tony said without a lull. "The tour is in three weeks, if you can gain control over your powers well enough by then and think of a hero name, I'll allow it."

Roman grinned. "Awesome."

He turned and searched the room, wilting slightly when he saw no fan. He shrugged to himself and let his eyes drift shut, focusing everything on the air around him, nudging at his hair. He called out to the wind and it responded, falling under his command. He slitted his eyes open and saw the pale colour around him. Roman grinned, and lifted his arms slightly. He tugged his hands toward him and the wind rushed past, and Tony hissed out a breath in surprise. Roman turned his attention to the air pressing right up to him, then lifted his arms slightly. He pulled up from the ground, then twisted in the air to grin at Tony.

"I'm flying!"

He lost concentration on the air and dropped a bit, but he caught himself relatively quickly and rose again. He whooped with delight and drifted shakily toward Tony, then dropped to the ground again with a wide smile. "I can fly!" He exclaimed, delighted.

Tony's eyes were wide, a ghost of a smile on his face. He coughed and cleared his throat, trying to school his expression quickly, but Roman caught the hint of pride in his eyes. "Good job, Ro." He seemed to think something over, then nodded almost imperceptibly. "Would you be able to control clouds?"

"Probably not, they're mainly water," Roman said with a shrug.

"Fair enough."

Roman twisted in midair, making his way over to Thomas. "Look! I figured it out!" He exclaimed joyfully. "I can fly!"

"Not very well, but yes, that is a great jump in ability," Logan noted, adjusting his glasses. "I have done some extensive research on aerokinesis abilities. Once you have extensive control over your powers, I read that you should be able to create and manage tornados, lift and throw people with a flick of your wrist, as well as - as you have shown you can do - fly."

"Throw people?!" Roman exclaimed. "Why would I want to do that?"

"To free yourself, to get rid of enemies surrounding you, etcetera," the other Roman listed, smirking up at the younger.

The flying teen stuck his tongue out at the other, then turned his attention back to Logan. "What else would I be able to do before I master my powers?"

"With your telepathy, with some training you should be able to discern the location of people based on how strong you can hear their thoughts and in which direction they're coming from," Logan stated. "You may be able to use the wind to determine locations as well, but I'm unsure as to whether or not that statement is factual."

"Speak English, calculator watch," Virgil joked, elbowing Logan. The tie-wearing teen rolled his eyes and shot an unimpressed look at Virgil, who merely smirked.

"Your super strength is the easiest to train, as we all have that ability," Logan continued. "We can start there if you wish, however if you want to focus on your aerokinesis or telepathy feel free to say so."

Roman shifted nervously. "Uh… the uh… the strength one is- it's fine."

"Alright," Logan conceded, stepping toward the centre of the room. "Do you want to practice by lifting one of us up?"

Roman's face burned. "P-picking one of you up?" He asked, flushing brighter at his slight stammer.

"Yes, there does not seem to be any proper item for you to practice with," Logan nodded toward the group. "One of them or me?"

Roman looked at the group of people and then back to Logan. "Um… you're already in the centre of the room, so uh… you."

Logan looked briefly surprised but nodded. "Alright then. Whenever you're ready."

Roman walked over to Logan and silently cursed his height. This would be awkward. He glanced at his hoodie, then decided against rolling his sleeves up. It would only make him look pretentious, he thought.

"So uh… do I just pick you up like… bridal style? Or like I hug you and pick you up?"

Logan sighed. "Whichever one you prefer."

Not hugging him, Roman decided sullenly, stepping to the side. He swung Logan's legs out from underneath him and held him with relative ease. He was so surprised he almost dropped Logan.

"Please don't drop me."

Roman huffed out a laugh and placed Logan back on the ground. The teen straightened his tie and glasses and cleared his throat awkwardly. "That was a good start. Can you try and lift Thomas?"

Roman's face burned and he glanced over at Thomas, who he still had a bit of hero-worship for. "D-do I have to?" He asked nervously, wringing his hands.

"No, you always have a choice, but Thomas is the tallest and the heaviest, therefore the best test of your capabilities," Logan reasoned.

Roman rubbed at his face. "Okay. Okay. I'll do it, okay." He walked over to Thomas and his face burned more, heart thumping in his throat. "I'm so sorry if I drop you," he told Thomas, voice wavering slightly.

Thomas waved a hand flippantly. "Don't worry about it, a little drop from this height won't hurt."

"Right. Right. Okay." He wrapped his arms around Thomas's midsection, hugging him quickly, before he tilted his body back to lift Thomas off the ground. He did so successfully, and after a few seconds put him down and stepped away quickly.

"Good, thank you Roman. Do you want to work on your other powers now?"

Roman nodded fervently, heart slowing as he relaxed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Uh… maybe telepathy? We should do aerokinesis practice outside of the tower, probably."

"Good point," Thomas agreed. "How about we leave the room? Then you can try and read our thoughts, and maybe see if you can sense where we are around the hallway."

Roman nodded. "Okay. Okay. Yep."

Thomas led the spider boys out of the room and shut the door. His phone buzzed and he checked it, to find a text from Peter.

'We're ready! Start whenever. We'll try not to think anything too jarring.'

Roman rolled his eyes and snorted. He settled down in the middle of the room, closed his eyes, and focused everything on the people milling around outside of the room. He spread his conscience out around the hallway, and found someone almost immediately.

'Hi RoRo!!' He thought. Ah. Patton. He could probably sense his presence.

'Hey Pat,' Roman sent into his mind. He heard a giggle from outside the gym and cracked a smile, then left Patton and roamed around the room again. He "bumped into" someone else. His nervous energy infected Roman, and he guessed Virgil.

'Virgil. Virgil. Virgil. Virgil.'

Yep. He was right. That was considerate, though, thinking his own name over and over again.

Roman remembered with a jolt he was supposed to be figuring out where they were in terms of the room, and so withdrew from Virgil and spread out. He brushed against the edges of the room and then turned his attention inward, trying to remember what the hallway looked like.

Aphantasia's a bitch.

He sensed everyone's presence and guessed who was were. Virgil's nervous energy was closer to him, and Patton's happy aura was further away. He found Logan and the other Roman, as well as Thomas, but he couldn't find Peter.

Frowning, Roman focused further up. He found Peter on the ceiling and started chuckling, almost losing concentration. He came back to his body and opened his eyes, grinning, and jumped up and ran to the door. He threw it open, apologised for startling Virgil, and grinned at Logan.

"I got it! It was a bit harder to find Peter at first, but when I remembered that he's a sticky boy I searched the ceiling and sure enough there he was!"

Peter fell off the ceiling laughing. "I'm a sticky boy!" He wheezed. "We're all sticky boys, and you're a windy boy!"

Roman grinned wider, if that was possible, at Peter. "Hell yeah!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's late!!  
> I forgot to post it when I was supposed to (technically the fourth, but the fifth keeps that nice consistency of going in fives, number-wise) so when I realised it wasn't updated I basically just gave up whoops.  
> I thought that I'd uploaded all six of my so-far completed chapters but no lol, I have this one to upload and /then/ I have to work a lot faster at getting chapter seven finished.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and again I'm sorry it's late!

Alarms began blaring throughout the entire building. The spider gang clapped their hands over their ears, and Roman flinched bodily.

"What's going on?" He shouted over the noise.

"Probably an intruder," Thomas yelled back. "C'mon Spiderlings, let's go change and help."

They ran off, and Roman ran after them. "Wait, what about me? What can I do to help?" He called.

Thomas stopped and turned, placing his hands on Roman's shoulders. "You don't have much control over your powers yet, it would be better if you stayed up here."

"What if they come up here?" Roman cried, on the edge of hysterics. "I can't fight!"

"Lock yourself in the room. You can fly, and you're incredibly strong. Just… stay here, okay? You'll be safer up here."

Before Roman could complain, Thomas joined the rest of the spiderlings in the lift and the doors closed.

Roman sank down to the wall and held his head in his hands, trying to muffle the alarm noise. It stopped suddenly, and his heart lurched.

"FRIDAY?"  
There was no response. That's bad.

Roman heard a door open and he swore, shutting himself in the gym and locking the door. He backed away, heart pounding in his throat, and lifted his arms to gain control over the wind again. All of the air in the room turned slightly blue, though he knew it was only to his eyes.

The door was thrown open and several people ran in, spotted Roman, and charged. The teen panicked and the wind complied to an unconscious command, and swirled around the intruders. They slowed, finding it difficult to walk through the maelstrom that was the entire room. Roman realised his chance and pushed his arms forward, flinging the intruders back. They hit their heads on the wall and went still.

Roman gasped softly and darted forward to make sure he hadn't killed them. He watched them for breathing and sighed with relief when he noticed they were. He pulled his hands up and rose into the air, hovering forward for a bit, before his pounding heart distracted him and he dropped to the ground again.

"Fuck," Roman spat.

More people appeared and Roman rose into the air again, hoping to everything that his idea worked. He made a move as if grabbing the air around him to freeze himself in mid-air so he wouldn't fall, then focused his attention on other air. He battered the people and they smashed through the glass and fell.

Roman dropped to the ground with a cry and ran toward the window, looking down. It was too late to catch them, they had already hit the ground. Roman stumbled back with a hand to his mouth, eyes watering, and turned.

"Roman?"

He saw Patton standing there, and desperately searched their mind. He started shaking when he realised it wasn't actually Patton.

"Who- who are you?" He choked out. "You're not Patton."

"Yes I am, remember kiddo?"

Roman shook his head frantically. "P-Patton- Patton doesn't- Patton doesn't think those things. Patton's- he's down with- he's somewhere else. He's not up here, and the lifts don't- the lifts don't work during emergencies."

'Patton' shook their head, a creepy grin making its way onto their face. "You're clever, Roman. But I know Patton and his friends are in the spider gang. We know how to… deal with them, and you're a budding hero with no control over your powers. The Avengers will fall and it will be your fault. You will watch them die."

Roman shook his head violently. "No, no no. No thanks, bye." And he thrust his hands into the air.

The intruder let out a shout of surprise as he hit the ceiling and went through. Roman yanked his arms down and the man crashed through the floor, going down several floors. Roman dropped to the ground, panting, and crawled toward the hole in the floor.

The man lay three floors down, unmoving. Roman shakily rose and lifted himself into the air, lowering down through the hole and to the man's side. He searched the man's mind but found nothing. The man was dead.

I killed people.

Roman's throat closed up and he backed away, stumbling as the adrenaline wore off. He fell to the ground and sat there, trembling violently.

"Roman?"

He jerked his head up and locked eyes with Virgil.

"Stay- stay back!" Roman yelped, scrambling to his feet. "Wait- wait- wait there, please."

Virgil stopped walking, holding his hands up nonthreateningly. "I'm not moving, Roman. Take your time."

Roman shuddered and slipped into Virgil's mind, combing through his thoughts. After a few seconds he determined that it really was Virgil, and he stumbled toward him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Roman choked out. "One of- one of the- the invaders could- he could shapeshift and- and he shapesh- he changed into Patton and- and pretended to be him and- and then I ki- I- he's dead!"

Virgil brought his arms up around Roman, holding him comfortingly. "It's okay, Roman. You're okay."

"I killed someone," Roman sobbed. "I killed someone and threw other people out of the window and they're definitely dead as well."

"It's okay, that's what happens in this business. People die. If it distresses you this much, we can get Joan and Talyn to lock your powers away again until you're emotionally prepared," Virgil murmured.

Roman shook his head, holding onto Virgil like a lifeline, like he could keep him grounded. "No, no, I need- I'll get used to it, yeah? I don't- they don't need to take my powers away. I don't- I want my powers. Please."

"Okay, that's alright Roman. Thomas and the others will be up here soon, they just wanted to send me first because I have more experience with panic."

Roman nodded tiredly against Virgil's chest. "I'm really tired," he mumbled.

Virgil chuckled softly. "That happens. Fear and adrenaline give away to exhaustion. Just don't dissociate, I'm not good at helping with that."

Roman huffed out a laugh. "Don't think I'm prone to dissociating other than possibly twice when I went to public school, we should be good."

Virgil rolled his eyes good naturedly and twisted when the lift doors slid open. Roman flinched and tucked himself behind Virgil, blinking owlishly at everyone.

"Hey Roro! You okay?"

Roman locked eyes with Patton and whimpered slightly, gaze darting to Patton's face and then the ground. Virgil murmured reassurances that it was really Patton to him, and slowly the fifteen year old shuffled up to Patton and hugged him. The older teen was surprised but accepted the hug, shielding Roman from the world.

"What happened?" Thomas asked Virgil, striding over to hug the teen quickly.

"Some people came up here and attacked Roman," Virgil murmured into Thomas's chest. "He accidentally threw some of them out of the window, and killed another in his line of vision by throwing him through the roof and then down several floors."

Thomas winced. "Poor guy. I'm gonna check on him, are you alright, Virgil?"

The teen nodded, hand twitching.

Roman looked at Thomas's face as he approached and his eyes watered. "I- I kill- he's dead," he choked out, breaking out of Patton's hold and running into Thomas's open arms. Thomas ran his hands comfortingly through Roman's hair, murmuring soft condolences and reassurances.

"It happens in our line of work," Thomas told him. "It's okay to feel this way, Roman, but you have to understand that you can't save everyone, especially bad guys."

Roman didn't respond, instead pressed his face further into Thomas's chest. His own chest shuddered as he breathed, trying to hold back tears.

"You did a really good job defending yourself." Logan shifted, catching Roman's gaze and then looking away again. "I'm- uh. I'm proud of you."

Roman's eyes filled with tears and he huffed out a bitter laugh. "My first fucking time using my powers like this and I kill several people."

"Hey hey hey," Thomas chastised gently. "It's okay, Roman. You were just protecting yourself."

Roman shook his head, sending tears streaming down his face again. "I should have been more careful."

He was sullen for the rest of the day.

He barely spoke or ate, instead claiming that he was too emotionally drained and opted to lock himself in his room the entire time.

Patton sat outside his room at one point, talking at the door in hopes that Roman would come out. He didn't.

Peter tried later. He, too, got no response, and gave up after a few minutes.

"He's just going to get worse mental health if he stays in his room all the time," Peter told Tony.

Roman was lying on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling when Tony opened the door. Roman rolled over and hissed out a small, "Go away."

"Nope."

Roman lifted his head and glared at Tony. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now."

"Then use your telepathy. Send messages into my head or something."

Roman quirked an eyebrow, face falling into a blank expression. He noticed Tony shiver and bit down a sense of pride.

"C'mon, Roman, everyone else is worried about you."

Roman fell back on his bed. "I think I should be worried about me too, but I'm not. Not really," he admitted softly. "I haven't felt this bad for… a while."

He heard Tony shift closer to his bed and he lifted himself onto his elbows again. "My ribs hurt," he murmured. "I haven't taken my binder off all day and I just don't have the energy to see myself without it."

Tony hissed out a breath. "Well, we can't do anything until you take that off, sorry Roman. Can you go into the bathroom- no, there's a mirror in there. Uh… I'll leave the room, and then you'll take it off."

Roman stared at Tony, then slowly nodded. He hauled himself off of his bed and watched Tony leave the room and shut the door. He stared at the floor, numbness curling around his heart, before he slipped the shirt off and wriggled out of his binder. He stared at the ceiling as he put his shirt back on, then dug around his stuff to find his jumper. Upon finding it and slipping into that, he shuffled over to the door and opened it.

"There, that better?" Tony asked.

Roman nodded hesitantly. His stomach growled and he felt his face burn, gaze darting to the ground.

Tony chuckled. "You hungry?"

"…No…"

Frowning, Tony looked down at Roman. "You sure?"

Roman hesitated. He hugged himself. "Yeah… yeah… I'm- I'm hungry," he said softly.

Tony placed a hand on Roman's shoulder. "We'll get you something small, then you can fuck back off to your room for however long you want."

Roman ducked his head sheepishly.

Tony set a sandwich on the plate in front of Roman. "Enjoy!"

Roman nodded half-heartedly and stared at it, folding his hands in his lap glumly. He watched it for a few more moments, before lifting a hand and starting to eat it. Tony nodded once, then moved over into the kitchen again.

When Roman finished the sandwich he stood, quietly thanked Tony, then shuffled off back to his room. He flopped down onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, guilt curling through his gut and around his heart. Roman rolled onto his side and curled up in a tight ball, trembling slightly.

Why were none of them scared of him? Of what he could do? He could send people to their deaths with a flick of his wrist. He could uncover their deepest secrets with ease. So why was he allowed to be alone?

These questions he had no answer to, but he did know something; he needed help. He could feel his careful progress slowly slipping again, and that just wouldn't do.

So, with that in mind, Roman dragged himself back out of the bed. He glanced at the clock and found that ten minutes had passed. He frowned, nervousness making his heart pound, and made his way over to the door and outside.

He pushed his hands into his pockets and scratched at his thumbs nervously. He shuffled into the living room and blinked owlishly at his newfound friends.

"Roman! Hi!" Peter called excitedly, causing the others to look up and where Peter was looking. Roman waved nervously and sat on the floor, pulling out his phone.

"H-hey, does- does everyone here have social media? Like- like Discord or something?"

Virgil nodded. "I have Discord, Twitter and Tumblr, but I'm not giving you my Tumblr username. It's like… my fandom hell."

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on sharing my Tumblr either." Roman shuddered. "I have Discord, and I was going to get Twitter but…" He broke off, frowning. "Mum died, so that kind of distracted me, but now I have nothing stopping me from getting one, right?"

Peter nodded sadly. "Yeah."

Thomas perked up suddenly, fixing his gaze on Roman. "You're still school age, right?" He questioned. Then, "Wait, that's a dumb question, yes you are. You're like, 14."

Roman crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm 15, actually.'

Thomas rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Have you been enrolled in a school yet? Because these guys all go to Midtown High, we could enrol you in there?"

"Oh- oh. Um. I've been home-schooled for the better half of a year," Roman said nervously. "But… going with everyone else would help a bit."

Thomas grinned. "That's great! I'll tell Tony. Just remember, no-one knows who we are as civilians. If word gets out that you live at the Tower, be prepared for a lot of questions."

Roman tipped his head back with a sigh. "I'm used to hiding things," he said. "With several not-so-good parents in my friend group back in Australia, it was always a jumbled mess whenever we met up." He cracked a smile, remembering something. "One time I kept mishearing everyone someone was saying as a name we were supposed to be hiding. Didn't do very well for my anxiety."

Virgil laughed softly. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

The Spiderlings shot interested glances at Virgil, but the anxious teen didn't seem to notice.

"I've hidden being- being queer from several parents for three years," Roman said - stumbling over his words as he realised he came out to the Spiderlings so casually \- and sighed. "I think I'd be fine to hide this thing from the world."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's late again I'm sorry lmao I'm going rabid  
> Next update will be on the 15th, AEST. If it isn't you have my permission to. Idk. Stab me.

It was not as easy as he thought.

The word spread almost immediately, so on the second day of attending Midtown High, he was getting flooded with questions. Most of it was just noise, something that Roman despised in large quantities such as this, but there were a few interesting questions.

Like, "Are you Tony Stark's illegitimate son?"

And, "Do you know the Avengers?"

He answered no and yes, respectively, then was flooded with even more questions.

"Do you know Spider-Man's identity?" He was asked one day.

Roman paused. "No, I'm just a teenager, Spider-Man rightfully doesn't trust me with that information." Then he escaped into the bathroom and had a meltdown.

The door opened and someone shuffled in, making Roman freeze. He held his breath.

"Roman?"

Patton's concerned voice filled his ears and Roman breathed out a relieved sigh. He opened the stall door and blinked at the ground, too emotionally compromised to look at even Patton's nose.

"Hey kiddo, are you okay?"

Roman shook his head. "This is so stressful," he hissed, voice going an octave higher than usual. "I fu- I hate this so much."

"Aw kiddo, can I hug you?"

The boy nodded, and Patton wrapped his arms around Roman, rocking gently from side to side. "It's okay to be stressed about all of this. How about you ask Tony if you can take a day off?"

"That's- that's a good idea." Roman sniffed, rubbing at his nose and eyes. "I'm not sure how I'll- how I'll continue the rest of the day. It's stressful."

"You can walk in the middle of our group," Patton suggested quietly. "We'll travel to your classrooms and escort you to the next one."

Roman's face burned. "That's not- you'll be late to your classes!"

Patton made a gentle hushing noise. "It's alright, Ro. I'm sure the teachers will understand."

They stood there for a few seconds more, rocking from side to side, when Roman dislodged himself from Patton and wiped at his face. "Um- I think we should probably head to the uh- the cafeteria," he joked breathily.

"That'd be a good idea," Patton agreed, grinning. He turned and over-exaggeratedly waved Roman out of the bathroom, much to the younger boy's amusement, then walked with him toward where the others were waiting.

Virgil lifted his head as the two approached, and frowned when his gaze landed on Roman's face. "You good?"

"Uh… yeah… I will be," Roman told him, sitting down awkwardly.

The day passed without too much fuss. Patton brought up his idea and everyone quickly agreed after hearing about his breakdown in the toilets earlier, and so Roman was escorted to each of his classes. The other Roman talked loudly to him the whole time, the two switching between Spanish and English with ease. Everyone else found it kind of amusing.

At the end of the day Roman was waiting outside his classroom, head down, hood on and headphones on his ears. He looked up when shoes entered his line of sight and his gaze landed on the other Roman's face.

"I was the closest," he explained, though it was unnecessary. The shorter teen smiled up at the taller one, and they walked together to the school's exit.

Patton's head swivelled when the doors opened and he grinned and waved. "Hey Ro! Roro!"

"That's not confusing at all," one of the teens muttered. Roman hesitated, noticing he didn't recognise that teen.

Virgil noticed Roman's hesitance. "Oh, this is Dolion."

Roman nodded and waved at Dolion nervously.

Patton looked around, and then shuffled over to Roman and whispered conspiratorially, "We told Dolion about you because he's a hero too. He has Venom."

"Venom?" Roman asked, interested.

Dolion nodded, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "An alien symbiote. They look kinda strange, you wanna see them?"

Roman nodded after a moment's thought.

Almost immediately, a black, gooey substance slipped out from Dolion's hood. Roman squeaked in surprise and immediately slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Hi," Venom said.

Roman shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to stutter out a response but his mouth ran dry. He shut his mouth, embarrassed, and nodded in welcome.

"Don't worry, we get that a lot," Dolion said, shrugging. "Okay Venom, fuck off now."

"Bitch."

Roman blinked, slightly surprised, then remembered that that was also his sense of humour so who was he to judge.

Roman and the Spiderlings arrived to the Tower and immediately threw themselves down in the living room, barricading the doors with webs.

Roman floated in the centre of the room, grinning tiredly but proudly around at everything.

"They're gonna be so confused," the elder Roman laughed.

Virgil smirked. "That's the point, princey."

Cue offended prince noises.

Patton shook his head, amusement shining in his eyes. "Be nice, Virgil!"

"Nah."

Logan rolled his eyes, glancing around at their work.

Peter crawled up the wall and sat there, watching Roman curiously. "How does your air power work?"

Roman glanced up at Peter. He pulled himself further up into the air. "I can focus on the air around me, and then the stuff I have control over turns a funky little blueish colour so I know what I'm doing. Then I can yank it around.

"It's really cool, because if I grab at the air around me-," he did so, holding the air around him with a slightly wavering hand, "-and then go to do something else, it'll be a weaker attack, but I can stay in the air."

"That is really cool!" Peter grinned. He dropped from the ceiling and bounced on the heels of his feet. "I'm so excited for when Mr. Stark gets back-"

"What the fuck?"

The six teenagers twisted to see the door. The handle was moving and the wood shaking, but Tony couldn't get in.

"What the fuck?" He asked again.

Peter started giggling. "Hi Mr. Stark! Having a bit of trouble?"

"PETER-"

The rest of them began to cackle. Roman drifted over toward the door and held himself in place, then made the air around the door move. The door started shaking on its' own.

He heard Tony leap back. "What the fuck?!"

Roman giggled softly, then brushed the air against Tony's legs. The man jumped back again.

"ROMAN!" He shouted. "Is that you doing that? It better fucking be you doing that!"

"Nooo…~"

Logan shook his head, a smirk crossing his face. "Roman, stop that."

"Nah…~"

Patton giggled loudly. "Romannnn!"

"Whaaat?"

"Let Tony in."

"No."

Tony groaned from beyond the door. "Roman, let me in right now or so help me-"

Roman yanked the doors open, ripping through the webbing. Patton squeaked at the sudden movement and Virgil flinched.

Tony stood there, eyes blown wide, before an amused smile made its' way onto his face. His expression then morphed into one of horror upon seeing the spider webs all over the room.

"Oh my GOD-"

The teenagers were made to clean everything up. Of course.

Patton muttered soft 'ew's under his breath as he gathered up the webs, shuddering violently. Logan helped him, standing a little too close to be considered normal as the two gathered them up. Roman used his aerokinesis to gather webs from the corners of the room, and the other Roman gathered the ones left behind.

Virgil and Peter were left to pick webs up from the carpet, and run around cleaning up the rest of the room.

They were finished in under an hour, which Roman was grateful for. He had been getting incredibly bored, and he had noticed his attention slipping often to his depleting social energy.

The six had food and then collapsed into the freshly cleaned living room. Roman curled in an armchair and pulled out his phone, engaging in slow conversation with his friends back in Australia. He then jerked up, an excited breath puffing out of his nose.

"What's up?" Patton asked, glancing up at Roman.

"One of my friends is gonna visit America soon!" He grinned. "His name is Tom."

Peter sat upright, attention caught. "That's great!"

Virgil nodded, sinking slightly lower in his chair. "Yeah."

"Virgil, sit upright, that's not good for your back," Logan chastised him.

"No you."

Roman snorted. "Can this friend of yours speak Spanish, Ro?"

He nodded. "We were in the same intensive Spanish class. He can also speak French."

"Interesante."

Tony walked into the room then, clapping his hands. "We're going out! Gotta get you all out of the house for things other than school. Thomas's orders."

Roman sank into his chair again. "I dunno," he murmured, playing with his fingers. "I think I'm all… peopled out? I don't have enough energy to go out again." He curled in on himself. "Sorry."

Patton whined softly. "Aww, please Roro?" He stood from his chair and padded over, a grin on his face. "We can leave if you get overwhelmed, but trust me! It'll be fun!"

Virgil glanced up at Patton, eyes narrowing slightly, then turned his attention back to his phone, as if deciding it wasn't his place to step in.

"I don't know…" Roman stared at the ground. "I am really tired."

"Come with us, and if you decide it's too much we'll leave as soon as you give me the word, okay?" Tony told him.

Roman sighed. "Fine."

They arrived at the theme park and Roman immediately regretted his decision to go with them.

Patton ran ahead, much to the annoyance of Thomas. He chased after the teenager, frantically telling him to not run off or he'd get lost in the late night crowd.

Virgil and the other Roman wandered off together, and Tony sighed, shaking his head. "Lovebirds," he muttered, almost venomously.

Peter glanced at Roman. "You'll be okay?"

Roman shrugged.

"I'll stay with you, then."

"You don't need to do that," Roman objected.

Peter grinned. "I want to."

Logan rolled his eyes. "I'm going after Patton and Thomas then," he said, weaving through the crowd in the direction they went.

Roman shoved his hands in his pockets, shivering slightly in the cold. Peter noticed and slung an arm over his shoulder, making Roman's face burn.

"You don't- I'm fine," Roman protested.

Peter stuck his tongue out at Roman. "Too bad. If you get much colder, I might have to give you my jacket."

Roman ducked his head as his face turned scarlet.

The pair wandered toward the rides, scanned their bracelets and stepped toward them. "Which one first?" Peter asked.

Roman hesitated, watching the rides for a few seconds to discern which ones would be safe for his existential terror. "Um…"

"Let's go on the Tower of Terror!"

Roman's stomach dropped. He jerked his head around to where Peter was pointing, just in time to watch the people currently on the aforementioned ride drop and scream.

"Um- I- okay…"

They made their way over toward the Tower of Terror, Roman's heart pounding in his throat as they went. They lined up, scanned their bracelets again and got on, and Roman decided it had been a very, very bad idea.

"Peter- I don't think-"

It shot into the air.

A strangled scream ripped from Roman's mouth and he clamped it shut, slamming his eyes closed and quivering like a leaf. He heard a hoot from his right - at least Peter was excited - and edged his hand toward Peter's.

"P-Peter, I think- this was- this was a bad idea-"

It dropped.

Another scream tore from Roman's chest and he fought against his instinct to open his eyes again. The ride went up and down a few more times, and when they were allowed to get off Roman remained in his seat, trembling.

"Roman?"

The boy peeled open his eyes and glanced up at Peter's face. "Y-yeah?" He asked, voice wavering.

"Are you okay?"

Roman shook his head, fighting back terrified tears. "Um-" he let out a choked laugh. "That was terrifying." He forced himself to his feet and barely stopped himself from launching at Peter, though he did go for a tight hug.

"Never again?" Peter asked.

Roman nodded. "Never again."

They all slept soundly that night. Roman took a while to calm down after the Tower of Terror ("It's so correctly named, oh my god.") but he crashed quickly. Peter carried him into his room and then bid him goodnight, retreating into his own room.

Roman's dreams were full of falling from dangerous heights, without his powers to help him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow its late again look at me go, bein dumb and all  
> ive got most of the next chapter written as well but im struggling a bit with the end so it may take a bit to post that eye-

An alarm rang around the room, startling Roman awake. He sat upright, glancing around the room frantically, before his muscles loosened as he realised he was alone. He quickly slipped his hoodie on and padded out of the room, searching for what the alarm could be for.

"Roman! We're going on a mission!"

The boy followed the source of the voice and encountered Tony. He stopped dead, however, when he saw Captain McFucking America. He'd seen the Captain once before, sure, but it was _Captain America_ and Roman _may or may not be freaking out a little bit now_. He looked past Captain America and holy fucking _shit_ there was the Black Widow.

Roman was, quite frankly, highly intimidated and pretty nervous as well.

"You up for coming with? I finished making you a suit last night," Tony called from where he was standing.

Captain America shot a glare at Tony, but the Black Widow rested a hand on his shoulder and pushed him away.

"O-oh? I have a- I have a suit now?" Roman squeaked, ducking his head as embarrassment scorched through him.

"Yeah, you're a superhero now, if you have a suit made by me you'll be a lot safer," Tony said, double-tapping his arc reactor. The suit flooded over his body and encased him safely, and the helmet materialized over his face as he twisted to look at Roman. "Read my mind real quick."

Roman blinked in surprise, before he complied.

_"The suit has a safe compression thing at the chest. It should be able to be controlled telepathically, let me know if it doesn't work. You have an A.I, feel free to name it. You can ask for a different voice for it if you want, I've got multiple."_

Roman grinned. "Thanks."

Tony nodded. "No problem. It's on the table over there, go put it on."

Roman stepped over toward the table and lifted it up, humming appreciatively at the texture. He twisted toward the bathroom and strode towards it, entering and shutting the door. He quickly undressed and slipped the suit on, marvelling at the design.

"Hello, Roman. Think _compress_ to activate the flattening mechanism. It will require confirmation."

Roman grinned wider, if that was possible. _Compress_.

"Awaiting confirmation."

_Confirm_.

"Flattening mechanism activated."

Roman gasped softly and looked down, blinking in ecstatic surprise. He blinked away a few happy tears and looked at himself in the mirror, liking what he saw. He jogged out of the bathroom and met up with the Avengers, sending Tony a small _thank you_ as he followed them all onto the Quinjet. His heart pounded excitedly as they headed toward the fight.

"Ro, because this is your first mission, I want you to stay as far away from danger as possible. Hover over us, stay far away, whatever you have to do. You can't be getting too hurt on your first mission," Tony told him.

Roman frowned, but silently agreed with Tony. He wasn't sure what he was doing there at all, but knowing that there were a lot of people with him helped with the nervousness.

He heard a noise to his right and turned, stopping and staring at the Spiderlings. They were all wearing their suits, and he had to stifle a gasp at the mechanical legs coming from Logan's suit. "Woah…"

"You have a superhero name yet? We can't say our real names during the fight," Peter asked, stepping forward. The eyes on his suit squinted slightly as he took in Roman's suit. "Nice suit, by the way."

Roman grinned, then realised the others couldn’t see. Then he frowned. "A superhero name? Um…" he looked at the ground, tapping his foot, then looked up with a realisation. "Stormfall?"

"That works!" Peter bounced slightly.

Patton pulled his mask off and grinned at Roman. "That's a great name!" He darted forward and wrapped the boy in a hug. Roman squeaked with surprise, before hugging back.

"We're almost there," Thomas called. "Love Bite, put your mask back on."

"Got it!" Patton let go of Roman and pulled his mask over his head, rocking on his feet. "Oh, I'm so excited."

"So am I!" Taller Roman said. "This is one of our first major missions!"

The youngest of the group automatically went to put his hands in his pockets before remembering he didn't have any. Instead, he let his arms drop loose at his sides. "What if I mess up?"

"Hard to mess up when you're not allowed to do much," Peter told him, grinning.

Roman shrugged. "True."

"Alright, we're here, everyone get your shit together and get out."

"Hey Cap! Clint said a bad word," Thomas called, fighting a grin as he wrangled his mask on.

Steve rolled his eyes and sighed.

Roman glanced between the two, fighting a smile. He twisted to watch as the hatch opened, and his eyes went wide. "Woah…"

"That's not the coolest thing yet," Virgil told him, nodding toward what they would be fighting. "That thing is pretty cool, sucks we have to kill it."

Roman's eyes went impossibly wider. "Holy shit-" His voice cracked and dropped out, breath hitching as he recognised the beast.

"What?" Patton asked, walking up to him. "What is it?"

"That's- that's the monster from my nightmare," Roman hissed.

The eyes on Patton's suit went wide. "Oh…"

"Fucking hell," Roman ground out. "This isn't going to be fun." He lifted himself into the air and drifted toward a building, landing awkwardly. He stumbled a little bit but righted himself immediately. The Spiderlings all jumped toward the building Roman was on, and he blinked in acknowledgement at them and watched the other Avengers join them on the roof.

"Comms check," Tony said.

A chorus of 'here's sounded off, and Roman waited for everyone to finish before meekly calling a, "Here."

"Alright, Stormfall, you're staying as far away from that thing as possible, remember? Civilian duty, basically. Spider-Man, if you could stick with Stormfall and help him if need be that'd be great. He's a new hero, people won't trust him all that much, but if he's seen with us - and by extension, you, - then the public's trust of him should grow faster."

Peter and Roman nodded. The smaller teen felt like a big bundle of nervous energy; he was basically vibrating.

"Rainbow Weaver and co., make sure building damage is minimized. Web anything that looks like it could topple, we want to diminish the chance of hefty costs." Steve glared at Tony. "And injured civilians."

Thomas nodded, the rest of the Spider gang following suit. "Got it, Tony."

Tony turned to address the rest of the Avengers. "Let's do what we do best. Cap?"

Steve sighed. "Avengers!" He looked at everyone gathered. "Assemble."

The main six went straight for the beast. The Spider gang - apart from Peter - headed for a crumbling building.

"You think you can get to the ground alright?" Peter asked.

Roman turned, and nodded. "At least, I hope I can," he joked, lifting himself up. He noted, pleased, that he had significantly more control over his aerokinesis than he had when he first discovered it, and controlling the wind was more of a second nature now; he didn't have to concentrate as hard.

He and Peter made their way down to the ground, and started directing civilians away from the beast. Peter rescued some people from one building and Roman another, then a voice crackled over the comms, high-pitched and frantic.

"Lo- Arachnae!" Patton cried out. "I can't- this building's going to fall!"

"Love Bite, get out of there!" Thomas shouted.

There was a muffled _oof_ to Roman's right and he twisted in midair, searching for the source of the noise. It was Peter, he had just hit a wall.

"P- Spider-Man, you good?" Roman called gently.

Peter shook his head, eyes wide. "If those buildings collapse I'm- I'm not gonna have a good time," he joked wryly.

Roman's eyes blew wide. "Okay, okay…" He looked around nervously. Was my dream his fucking memory?? "Alright, um. Do you want to stay on the ground and direct… 'traffic'? Or do you want to-"

"I'll direct 'traffic'," Peter cut in. Roman couldn’t see his face, but he heard the relief in Peter's voice.

"Okay, Spider-Man," Roman said, grinning. "Let me know if you need any help. I'll get the rest of the people from the buildings."

"Copy that, Stormfall." He swung toward the ground, startling a crowd of people before they followed his directions.

Roman steeled himself before flying toward a building, landing gently on the windowsill. He noticed a small child, eyes wide and tears streaking down their face, and his heart hurt. He gestured at the window, and the child helped him open it.

"What's your name?" Roman asked breathlessly.

"I'm- I'm Miles," the child told him.

"Okay, Miles. I'm Stormfall, and I'm gonna help you. Are your parents home?"

The child - Miles - shook his head. "They were gonna be gone for only ten minutes," he told Roman. "But then the building started shaking! And there's a big scary monster outside."

"I'm gonna get you away from the scary monster, alright? Is that okay with you?" Roman asked.

Miles nodded. "Thank you, Storm- Stormf- Stormy!"

Roman's heart swelled, tears building in his eyes at just how much Miles reminded him of his youngest brother. He picked Miles up and hoisted him on his hip. "How old are you, Miles?"

"I'm six!" He said, holding up five fingers.

Roman could have burst into tears on the fucking spot, if he was being honest. "That's cool!" He almost said his age then realised it was a terrible idea. "Let's get out of here, okay?"

Miles nodded, holding onto Roman as tight as he could. Roman lifted them into the air - Miles gasped in genuine awe - and through the window, then down toward the ground.

He noticed a couple watching the building frantically, and heard a shriek come from one of them - Roman had a suspicion that it was the father. They ran toward him and as soon as Roman landed on the ground, Miles reached toward them frantically. Roman handed Miles over and the couple hugged him tight, blabbering thanks.

"Miles, we're never leaving you alone in the house again," the mother told him. She looked up at Roman, who was still standing there awkwardly. "Thank you, thank you so much. What's your name?"

Roman opened his mouth to say his real name, but then quickly remembered to change his sentence. "I'm Stormfall, ma'am."

"Thank you, Stormfall," the father said. "I work at the police station, if you ever need help then ask for Mr. Morales."

"Thank you, sir," Roman said, smiling at him. Then he remembered that they couldn't see his face. "I gotta go now, other people to save, but I'm glad I could help!"

The family thanked him again as he pulled himself into the air and flew off, a content smile on his face.

" _Thanks to the help of a new superhero, the casualty count has been significantly lessened from the last time the Avengers were involved! Who is this new hero? Do they have a name?_ "

Roman rolled his eyes from where he was seated on the couch. "I told like, seven people my super name. I don’t know how it hasn’t spread yet."

"People are dumb," Virgil called from across the room.

Roman nodded. "True."

Patton made a disagreeing noise in the back of his throat. "Hey!" He exclaimed. "They might just be too nervous to talk to other people about it, or just haven't had the time to!"

"Also, people are dumb," Peter said, passing the room.

Patton yelped, jumping to his feet and chasing Peter. "Get back here, you're a person too and you're not dumb!"

Roman smiled, listening to the two run down the hall. He heard someone shriek in surprise - it sounded kind of like the other Roman, if he was gonna be honest - and snorted.

Virgil heard it as well and chuckled, shaking his head slowly. "Idiots."

"But they're our idiots."

Virgil glanced at Roman, then back at his phone. "Yeah."


	9. Chapter 9

A low rumble startled Roman from his sleep. He sat up slowly, curling his legs underneath him, and listened. The room was moving slightly, and Roman lifted himself into the air so that he wasn't affected by it. He heard someone in the room next to him swear - Clint, from the sounds of it - and huffed out a humourless laugh.

"Roman, Tony is requesting your presence alongside all of the 'Spider Kids' and Thomas in the living room," FRIDAY announced softly.

Roman nodded, vibrating with adrenaline. "Thanks, Fri."

"Of course." She went quiet.

Roman pulled open the door and drifted through, gliding down the hallway toward the living room. He was greeted by the sight of all of the Spiderlings, Tony and Thomas standing around, vibrating with the building.

He snorted. "Sucks to suck," he said, shrugging.

Virgil rolled his eyes at Roman and shot him a wry smile.

"Okay, so this shaking isn't an earthquake, as many people think," Thomas began before Tony could. The latter man shot Thomas a dirty look. "There are several villains downtown trying to get our attention. They started business as low-level villains and then upgraded rather quickly to a much higher level. They're quickly becoming a problem, and we need to stop them before much else happens."

Roman sighed and landed on the ground. "We stopped a monster three days ago. Why can't these guys just wait a few more weeks?"

Patton laughed. "I wish it worked that way, kiddo." He shrugged. "But alas, it doesn't."

Logan's face burned slightly and he looked quickly away.

"They're taking civilians hostage, but every hostage is seemingly unharmed. If we don't get out there within an hour they'll start killing them," Tony continued for Thomas. "Suit up, everyone. All the other Avengers are already prepared and waiting at the Quinjet."

Roman's heart pounded harder, flooding adrenaline through his veins. The Spiderlings and him turned and dispersed back to their rooms to dress. After, they headed immediately for the Quinjet. It took off, and Roman practiced briefly with his powers by gently lifting Patton into the air. The teenager squawked in surprise, laughing. "It tickles!"

Roman grinned. "Does it?" He asked innocently, grabbing and holding Patton in one place. Then he wiggled his other hand around and brushed against Patton's side with the air.

The teenager shrieked. "St-stop it!" Patton cackled, squirming in the air.

"Boys, enough!" Steve chided.

Roman lowered Patton to the ground immediately, face flushing at being chastised by Captain America. He debated whether or not to bow before deciding against it and just nodding ashamedly.

"We're nearing the landing zone," Logan announced. "Put on your masks."

They all complied.

After disembarking from the Quinjet they all scanned the area.

"I can see one of them," Roman announced suddenly. "He has a wingsuit?"

Peter stiffened noticeably beside him. "Vulture."

Tony swore. "Spider-Man, you stay as far away from the Vulture as possible, are we clear?"

Peter nodded wordlessly.

Roman didn't question it. Tony was normally this protective. "There's another one, he's… glowing…?"

"What the- I thought he died," Tony muttered.

Roman lifted into the air, hovering slightly to get a better vantage point. "That's all I can see."

"I can see more," Steve interrupted. "There's… the Red Skull?!" He interrupted himself to gasp. "He- I thought he died! He was supposed to be dead! He touched the tesseract!"

Roman rolled his eyes. "Any more you can see?"

"Um, yeah- a big angry purple guy, and-"

"And a whole bunch of Chitauri," Tony cut in, voice tight. "I thought I destroyed them all, but apparently that was only the beginning."

"I thought you said these were little villains!" The other Roman exclaimed, twisting to stare at Thomas.

"Sorry, Royal Slinger, but you wouldn't have come if you knew the severity of the situation."

"No shit we wouldn’t have come!" Virgil burst out. "This is ridiculous! I can't fight them all! I can't- we can't-" he stopped speaking, but he was trembling suspiciously.

Roman drifted back down to the ground and landed beside Virgil. The boy jerked his head up to stare at Roman, eyes wide.

"It's okay," he said softly. "We can fight them all together, and we'll win."

Virgil shook his head. "There are too many- we can't- we can't face them all!"

"We won't," Thomas said. "Not all at once. We'll split up and take the villain we think we can take."

Virgil didn't respond for a few moments, until he gave a hesitant nod.

Tony nodded as well. "Alright gang, let's go."

Steve glared at him. "Avengers, assemble!"

They split off and veered toward each villain they thought they could take. Roman weaved through the air toward the Vulture, curious as to why Peter and Tony reacted in such a way.

"Hello, little Avenger!" The Vulture called. His voice sounded rough, but Roman guessed that it was the way his suit made him sound.

"Hi, villain!" Roman chirped, floating in front of him. "Spider-Man seems relatively worried that you're here, mind telling me why?"

The Vulture whirled around. "Spider-Man's here?" He asked, voice dangerously low. "That little-"

"Nope," Roman said, a bit too cheerily, grabbing the Vulture and holding him in place.

"What the-"

"So, are you gonna tell me what you did to him to make him behave like that or am I gonna have to beat it out of you?" Roman asked.

The Vulture struggled, apparently trying to fly away, but gave up. "I dropped a building on him. And made him crash a plane. And threatened his life. Now let me go, tiny Avenger."

Roman's eyes narrowed. "What was that?" He asked, voice silky sweet. "You dropped a building on him?"

"Yeah, he was fine!" The Vulture argued. "He got out of it."

"Such a situation would be rather traumatising, don't you think?" Roman asked him, eyes slitted. "You wouldn't want to experience that, would you?" He lifted the hand holding the Vulture in the air, and he rose. Roman proceeded to slowly close his fist, and the Vulture yelped as his wingsuit started breaking and snapping from the air pressure around him. "Would you?" Roman repeated.

"What do you want me to do?" The Vulture demanded. "It's in the past, I can't exactly go back and stop myself from doing it!"

Roman laughed humourlessly. "I didn't say I wanted you to do anything. I'm just here to help a friend." He shut his fist further and the Vulture shrieked as a piece of his suit stabbed his leg.

"Stop!"

Roman looked up to see Peter.

"Tony told you to stay away from him," Roman shouted over the din of fighting.

"I don't care, you can't kill him," Peter insisted. He shifted his gaze down to the ground. "I know who he is, and I know that he has a daughter who would miss him if he died."

Roman's eyes widened and he glanced back at the Vulture. "Why do this?" He asked, directing the question to the man in the winged suit. "Why fall into a life of villainy?"

"We had no money," the Vulture admitted after a few moments. "I got a city contract to help cleaning up after the 2012 Chitauri invasion. Then Stark's team came in, shut down my work and kicked me out."

"So you stole things?" Roman asked him. "You could have gotten a real job!"

The Vulture shook his head. "They wouldn't have let me," he said. "I'm not- there are no jobs that pay well enough that are accessible to me."

Roman didn't press any further. He lowered the Vulture and himself to the ground and let him go.

"Fly away, birdie," Roman hissed at him.

The Vulture needed no reminding. However, he didn't fly, instead just fucking legged it out of there.

"Spidey, you okay?" Roman asked, turning to look at Peter. The teenager was trembling. "Oh, hey, hey-"

"He told you."

"What?"

Peter looked up at Roman. The eyes on his suit were wide. "He told you that he dropped- that he- that-"

"He did," Roman confirmed. "Are you okay?"

Peter shook his head. "I- I really need a hug, if that's okay," he whispered.

Roman darted forward and wrapped his arms around Peter, holding him tight. Peter rested his head on top of Roman's as they rocked side to side a bit. Peter eventually let himself cry, and the sound of it broke Roman's heart.

"You're okay, you're alright," Roman murmured, knowing Peter could hear him no matter the volume he spoke at.

Peter didn't respond, instead moved his head to rest his forehead on Roman's. The shorter boy's face flushed but he accepted the movement, knowing full well that Peter could hear his accelerated heartbeat.

"Hey, lovebirds!" Virgil shouted. "A little help?"

Roman and Peter jerked away from each other and looked toward Virgil. He was battling two of the villains at once and was slowed considerably.

Peter swore. "We're coming, Spidergale!" He shot a web at one of the villains and yanked him their way. Roman lifted into the air and barrelled toward the other one, slamming into him at full force. The villain squawked and fell over, startled at the small hero.

"Hey, Spidergale!" Roman yelped, pulling himself to the side as one of the villains came barrelling towards him. He caught the villain in the air and threw him toward the ground. He didn't check to see if the villain stayed, instead flew forward to help Peter and Virgil with the other villain.

The comms crackled in his ears and Roman screeched to a halt.

"One of them disappeared. Thanos. He's the worst of them all, we've fucked up."

Roman paced in the room, and Peter paced above him. Tony and Thomas were watching them, each fidgeting in their own ways.

The door opened and everyone whirled around to face it.

"Thanos used the space stone to teleport to another planet," Steve said, leaning against the doorway.

Tony threw his hands in the air. "That's not fair, I can't just teleport away from a fight whenever I want to," he complained. "How come this ugly grape gets to?"

Roman snorted. "Maybe to power up, to find more resources? You said the space stone, are there more stones?"

Steve nodded. "Strange said that there are six in total. Space, time, power, soul, mind and reality." Steve sighed. "Thanos has already got the space, power and reality stones. He's already the most powerful thing in the universe."

Roman's eyes widened. "So basically, we're fucked?"

Steve twisted to glare at Tony just as the man opened his mouth. Tony wisely chose not to speak.

"Basically," Steve agreed, nodding to Roman. "We need to stop him from getting the other stones. Strange guards the time stone and Vision has the mind stone, but we don't know where the soul stone is."

"How do we find it?" Tony asked. "If no one knows where it is, then it'll be impossible to find it."

"There have been friendly aliens, right?" Roman spoke up after a second of thought. "They might know where it is, and Strange didn't say no one knew."

Tony huffed and inclined his head in agreement. "You're right, sorry. Pretty sure Carol is visiting soon, we can ask her then."

"Carol?"

Peter grinned down at Roman. "She's so cool! She's like a cool aunt." He dropped from the ceiling, landed on his feet and waved his arms around wildly. "She glows, and shoots photon blasts from her hands. She can fly!"

"That gives me no insight into her personality, Peter," Roman told the boy, smiling amusedly.

"Oh, sorry!" Peter rocked on the balls of his feet, grinning from ear to ear. He didn't sound very apologetic. "Maybe it'd be better for you to find out yourself!"

Roman's nerves ate at him but he nodded, forcing a smile. "Alright."

Peter seemed to notice his nervousness and smiled at him, small but reassuring. "She's really nice, I promise."

Roman dipped his head in acknowledgement, humming thoughtfully. He glanced at Steve, still in the room, and once he discerned the super soldier wasn't looking his way, he tugged on his binder to give himself a few moments of reprieve. And then Steve looked back and he dropped his hand from his chest.

Peter picked up on the movement and gave Roman a little sympathetic glance. Roman inclined his head in a nod, then glanced at Tony and Steve.

"I'm gonna go put a hoodie on," he said. "I'm getting kinda cold; I'm used to it being hotter around this time in Australia." He laughed nervously, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

Steve nodded. "That's fair," he replied.

Tony narrowed his eyes contemplatively at Roman, remembering it was autumn when they got him, but realised what he wanted and nodded as well.

The boy escaped the room and darted down the hallway, throwing his bedroom door open from down the hallway with a flick of his wrist. He entered the room and shut the door, shedding both his shirt and his binder. He leaned against the cool wall and inhaled, relaxing slightly as the knot in his back loosened. He tugged his shirt back on and grabbed a thick, soft hoodie, pulling that on over his head and shoving his hands in his pockets. He left the room, rubbing his thumb along the soft fabric on the inside of the hoodie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay on time for once kjfgdf  
> I'm going on a study trip to Spain in September! So from the 21st of September, AEST to the 20th of October I'll be out of Australia, therefore unable to update the fanfic as we'll have a lot less free time than I do currently. Up until we go on the trip I'll try to update as frequently as possible, but with all my assessment work due incredibly soon they might slow down to every ten days instead of every five, we'll just have to see.  
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm pretty sure it's a bit shorter than the rest of them have been so I'll try to make the next one longer. I struggled a lot with this chapter unfortunately haha.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this chapter is so much shorter than the previous ones. I struggled with this subplot a lot (for motivational reasons, also partially because I'm dropping my private life stuff in here too.)  
> TW! This chapter talks a LOT about poor mental health, self-harm and eating disorders. The chapter isn't really important to the overall story, however reading it will provide a better understanding for the characters (and me lmao)  
> Anyway, onto the chapter!

Roman's vision blurred as his eyes crossed. He angrily uncrossed them only to render his eyes ridiculously wide open. He sighed, put his phone down and sat up, glancing at the clock. He scowled when it flashed 3:23AM at him.

Standing, Roman grabbed for the same black hoodie he wore the day prior and pulled it on. He tiptoed out of the room and down the hallway, navigating his way to the kitchen and keeping an ear out for anyone else awake.

He shuffled into the kitchen and searched the cabinets, humming in concern when he discovered a large number of knives in one of the drawers. His nose twitched and he stiffened. _Blood. That is blood that I smell._

Roman lifted a knife out of the drawer and inspected it. There; a little bit of blood, missed.

"Who could have done this?" He breathed, turning it over. There was another spot of blood by the handle and he frowned, eyes widening in brief fear. Then an interest overtook him. "Could I…"

He zeroed in on the knife, focusing his all on it. He felt a soft hum in his blood as his powers activated, and his vision darkened, everything acquiring a purple shade. Roman stared at the blood.

_Who did this?_

His vision flashed, showing him pinpricks of who used the object. He inhaled sharply, dropping the knife back in the drawer and closing it quickly. His hands shook and he cradled them to his chest.

_Patton?_

A few hours later the others woke up. Roman watched Patton a bit longer than normal, gaze scanning him for anything he could have missed. He knew Patton's powers were more aware to Roman's mental presence than the others, so scanning his memories was out of the question. Instead, Roman decided for a normal approach.

He pulled Patton aside later and breathed in, out. "Is everything okay?" He asked quietly, mindful of the other Spiderlings and their super hearing, and glanced down to Patton's arms.

The teen's eyes widened ever so slightly at Roman's 'perceptiveness'. "Yeah!" He said. Roman was pained at how calm he sounded. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Roman shrugged, gaze drifting back down to Patton's arms. "I dunno."

"Thank you for being concerned," Patton chirped. Forced. "But I'm fine, kiddo! Let's go back to the others before they get su-worried."

 _Suspicious._ The word slipped through the forefront of Roman's mind but was gone as soon as it came. "I- okay!" He followed Patton back to the rest of the group and pretended to forget their conversation, and what he had discovered earlier. He was ready to question Patton about it later, he just needed the right time.

That 'right time' came a few hours later, when for some reason or another the conversation turned to mental health.

"I've always struggled with mental health," Virgil said, "with my generalised anxiety disorder and all."

Patton went still and quiet. Roman glanced at him and remembered what he discovered.

"My mental health is relatively alright," the other Roman admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "But sometimes I can't get out of bed."

Logan watched Patton for a few heartbeats. "My mental health is fine. I, admittedly, got more closed off when my grandfather died, however I do not suffer from any anxiety or depressive disorders."

Patton blinked for a few seconds before grinning at the others. "My mental health is A-Okay!" He chirped. "Sucks that you all have mental… 'issues', but I can help you all!"

Roman stared at him with narrowed eyes, then realised it was his turn. "My mental health is pretty wack," he said with a self-deprecating laugh. "I have anxiety and am relatively depressed, and I'm also autistic." The admission startled some of the others, who had forgotten about when he'd told them a few weeks back. "As well as being…" he struggled for a word to not out himself further. "…queer, my mental health has its' ups and downs. And. Uh…" he stared at the ground, tugging at his hoodie sleeves. "The eating disorder that keeps rearing its' ugly head every now and then."

Peter smiled sympathetically at Roman. "My mental health is pretty good, for what I've been through. Yeah, I have anxiety when in warehouses and garages, but I'm actually rather okay."

Patton deflated. Roman glanced at him, but the older teen shook his head. _Later_ , Roman heard.

 _Two can play at that game,_ Roman thought to himself, carefully tucking away his impulsive want to come out as trans to the others and sitting back in his chair. The others relaxed, as if having gotten weight of their shoulders. All except for Patton.

 _Y'know,_ he told Patton casually, _you'd feel better if you told everyone your mental health issues like they did._

Patton shot him a LookTM and pointedly ignored him.

Roman cornered Patton again later, as they were all going to do their things for the day; whatever it was. He eyed Patton determinedly, and the older teen's shoulders sagged slightly.

"I know," Patton said before Roman could start. "I need to tell people, blah blah blah. I'm sorry, okay? I can't. They don't- they have their own problems, I don't need to chuck mine at them as well."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Now tell me, what would you say if I said that exact thing?"

Patton grew uncomfortable, eyes darting from side to side and not settling on Roman's face. "I'd tell you that it didn't matter, and you should tell them anyway…" he stopped for a few seconds, blinking down at Roman before looking away again. "But that's not advice for me! They have their own emotional mires and I'm the one who's supposed to help them all the time. I'm supposed to be all happy, with butterflies and sunshine! Not- not-" He stopped speaking.

Roman hummed thoughtfully. "I used to prioritise my friends over my own wellbeing," he said, seemingly out of nowhere. "I grew tired and cranky, but I bottled my emotions up all the same. It became a problem very quickly."

Patton sent him a confused glance.

"I didn't tell anyone until it got really bad, and by then it was too late to prevent worse things from happening." Roman shrugged, glancing at the ground before back up to Patton's nose. "It got stupid bad. I fainted in class." He seemed uncomfortable sharing the information but continued to talk. "You need to tell people about this, Pat."

The elder teen looked down at his feet and scuffed them along the carpet. "I- I know."

"Can you tell the others?" Roman asked him, running a hand through his own hair nervously. "For me?"

Patton hesitated before nodding once. "Yeah. Yeah I can- I can do that. Thank you, Ro."

The shorter teenager grinned up at Patton. "No problem."

That conversation later involved a lot of tears and hugs, but Patton did seem lighter after he told them. Roman sidled up to him afterwards to inform him how proud he was, and Patton smiled at him.

"Thank you again, Roman."  
Roman blinked, slightly surprised, before he grinned once more. "No problem, Padre."

Patton rolled his eyes at the nickname but smiled down at the younger boy anyway.


	11. NOT A CHAPTER - A/N

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and i oop-

hey guys!  
i'm suffering from a bit of writer's block with this story, as well as stress with school. i'm going to spain in a bit less than two weeks, so i'll try working on a really long chapter while i'm over there, but i don't get back until the 20th of october (these dates are by australian times).  
i have a twitter! i'm much more active on there than here. https://twitter.com/starstruckroman !  
y'all wanna know just how much i'm struggling with chapter 11?  
i only have 87 words  
most of the chapters have been roughly 2.5k each (apart from the last one which was abt 1k~)  
i'll aim for a ridiculously long chapter for chapter 11 (might even rewrite the 87 words i currently have), but for now disregard the posting schedule. as soon as i can i'll get back into the swing of things, but for now i just need to work on different projects :P  
apologies for disappearing, and i hope you all have a good day!

(also that angst that's been in the story so far? yall aint seen shit. im aiming for abt 15 chapters so its gonna get really angsty toward the end. hehe)


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